Sri Lanka : history and the roots of conflict / edited by Jonathan Spencer.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Spencer, Jonathan, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sri Lanka--History.

Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka--Ethnic relations.

Sri Lanka--Politics and government.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (260 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London [England] ; New York : Routledge, 1990.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the past decade, Sri Lanka has been engulfed by political tragedy as successive governments have failed to settle the grievances of the Tamil minority in a way acceptable to the majority Sinhala population. The new Premadasa presidency faces huge economic and political problems with large sections of the island under the control of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) and militant separatist Tamil groups operating in the north and south.This book is not a conventional political history of Sri Lanka. Instead, it attempts to shed fresh light on the historical roots of the ethnic crisis a

Contents:

Cover; Sri Lanka; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; Contributors; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; 1. Introduction: the power of the past; Part I: Colonialism, history and racism; 2. The generation of communal identities; 3. The people of the lion: the Sinhala identity and ideology in history and historiography; 4. Historical images in the British period; 5. The politics of the Tamil past; Part II: History at a moment of crisis; 6. Nationalist rhetoric and local practice: the fate of the village community in Kukulewa

7. A compound of many histories: the many pasts of an east coast Tamil community8. Rural awakenings: grassroots development and the cultivation of a national past in rural Sri Lanka; Part III: The politics of the past; 9. J.R.Jayewardene: righteousness and realpolitik; 10. Newspaper nationalism: Sinhala identity as historical discourse; 11. Afterword: scared places, violent spaces; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-134-94979-0

988-98015-4-X

1-280-32213-6

9786610322138

0-203-40741-5

9780203407417

OCLC:

437078826