Stories of "our people" women's political engagement in post-war sri lanka Yajna Sanguhan

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Sanguhan, Yajna, author.

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania. Political Science., degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science.

South Asian studies.

Gender studies.

Social structure.

0615.

0700.

0733.

0638.

Local Subjects:

Political science.

South Asian studies.

Gender studies.

Social structure.

0615.

0700.

0733.

0638.

Genre:

Academic theses

Physical Description:

1 online resource (205 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertations Abstracts International 87-12A

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 2026

Language Note:

English

Summary:

How does women's political engagement after civil war appear in a patriarchal society? The current literature has mixed findings on women's political participation after civil war and insufficient attention has been paid to the distinct environment of a highly patriarchal society. Strict gender norms mean that women are confined to the home and are responsible for the care of their families and households. In this context, can we still see improvements in women's political participation? I argue that women participate in informal political engagement by using their role as the career of the household to make claims of the state to rebuild their households and communities after civil war. Furthermore, I argue that this informal political engagement can open the door to formal political engagement that is typically restricted by patriarchal norms. I study this argument in the case of Sri Lanka, which experienced nearly three decades of civil war between the Sri Lankan armed forces and Tamil separatists. I conduct six months of ethnographic research, including participant observation and in-depth interviews, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka to examine the relationship between women, their communities and the local state. I find that Tamil women use the strong norm for women's responsibility for the household to overcome the norm that restrict their public presence. They seek to meet their immediate needs such as rebuilding their homes after displacement or earning an income after the loss of their husbands or other breadwinners. Tamil women extend this to care for the community by developing relationships with local bureaucrats who work at an extremely local level to contribute to reconstructing the community. Finally, this informal political engagement at the community level can create the skills, knowledge and experience required for women's formal political participation in running for office in local government

Notes:

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 87-12, Section: A.

Advisors: Weisiger, Alex Committee members: Esberg, Jane; Thachil, Tariq

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2026

Vendor supplied data

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9798247972754

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license