Impact of War Memorialisation Events in Post War Ethnic Reconciliation Process of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Memorialization is not a new phenomenon in Sri Lanka. Historically, memorialization has been witnessed over the years in various forms. Erasing memories of specific communities took place in the post-independent political process as a result of ethnopolitics. However, the politics of memory and memorialization continue even to date in the post-war context. Erasing the memory of particular communities from the commemoration process in the post-war Sri Lankan social context is the core research theme of this study. The war memory represents the sensitive and emotional assets of both the victorious and the defeated parties of the war. The commemoration of the deceased is a value long being established by any community. The memory and the memorialization of war heroes have acquired a political significance under the norms of a nation-state and ethno-nationalist secessionist movements. This study examines the memorialization process, power relations and hegemonic formations that are part of the war memorialization in Sri Lanka and discusses social, political as well as psychological implications of the parties resorting to the conflict in their attempt to maintain war memories in the post-conflict context. The main objective of the study is to understand the nature of the war commemoration in post-war Sri Lanka by exploring the historical and political reasons. The study revealed that memorialization has amounted to hegemonic cultural Memory and the Memory and efforts of memorialization of "the other's memory are being erased".