The Ethnic War and Women’s Perceptions of Ethnic Others and Changing Roles of Women: A Study of a Culturally and Ethnically linked Traditional Village in Anuradhapura District, North Central Province, Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study was about women’s perceptions of ‘ethnic other’, where the subjects of the study were women from an ethnically and culturally linked community. It also explored the changing roles of women during and after the ethnic war in Sri Lanka. The community in the study is located in the North Central Provincial District of Anuradhapura, adjacent to the Northern Province which consists of a Tamil majority. The community’s geographical closeness to Tamil and Sinhalese majority areas has made them natural relatives of both ethnic communities. It was observed that women in this community found it extremely difficult to identify themselves with either ethnic camp. Being a Sinhalese or a Tamil did not carry any significant meaning in the social and political affairs of these women. They perceived that puritan and chauvinistic ethnic politics had posed several difficulties for them. The war had presented several opportunities for women in the public sphere. However, the end of war was not the end of suffering but the beginning of new challenges for the women of the community. Life history 30 narration was used as a tool for extracting the necessary information for the study and are presented thematically following the stress points of the women. It was concluded that many of the problems faced by these women were political in nature and needed to be resolved through a process of politics.