The Fragmented Island: Ethnic Conf1ict and the Politics of Culture in Sri Lanka
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.21727Abstract
This article examines the role of culture in the ethnic conflict and strife in Sri Lanka. The general aim is to achieve an understanding of the nationalist process, the force of nationalist ideas and traditions in motivating action-action that is often violent and intolerant-and to demonstrate the value of a cultural approach to the understanding of modern societies. Culture has been examined in two ways here, namely, the dramaturgic approach to culture which emphasizes the expressive dimensions of culture, and the politics of culture or the political culture approach, whereby cultural manifestations are utilized effectively to maintain power between groups. The article concludes that the SinhaleseTamil conflict is a product of modem politics, and culture has been used effectively to legitimate rival nationalisms in Sri Lanka.Downloads
Published
1993-06-01
How to Cite
Ramachandran, S. (1993). The Fragmented Island:
Ethnic Conf1ict and the Politics of Culture in Sri Lanka. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 13(3), 9–14. https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.21727
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Refuge authors retain the copyright over their work, and license it to the general public under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows for non-commercial use, reproduction and adaption of the material in any medium or format, with proper attribution (see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode - human readable summary at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).