Blowback: Linguistic Nationalism, Institutional Decay, and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka

by Neil De Votta, Devotta, Neil Devotta

In the mid-1950s, Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhalese politicians began outbidding one another on who could provide the greatest advantages for their community, using the Sinhala language as their instrument. The appeal to Sinhalese linguistic nationalism precipitated a situation in which the movement to replace English as the country’s official language with Sinhala and Tamil (the language of Sri Lanka’s principal minority) was abandoned and Sinhala alone became the official language in 1956. The Tamils’ subsequent protests led to anti-Tamil riots and institutional decay, which meant that supposedly representative agencies of government catered to Sinhalese preferences and blatantly disregarded minority interests. This in turn led to the Tamils’ mobilizing, first politically then militarily, and by the mid-1970s Tamil youth were bent on creating a separate state.

298 pages, Paperback

First published April 9, 2004

Reviews

[PeaceAll · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone genuinely interested in the ROOT causes of the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka. To quote one journal Review:

"DeVotta has submitted an elaborate, interesting, theory-led study of the Sri Lankan conflict. Focusing on the language politics, he allude to a highly sensitive topic in the history of Tamil-Sinhalese ethnic relations. In addition, the extensive quotations enable the reader to comprehend the political view of the Sinhala and Tamil elites at that time."—Internationales Asienforum

If you are interested in what *really* happened in Northern Sri lanka, without the propaganda, the following is recommended:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16...

Does anyone know of any independent video documentaries that describes the Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka? I was also looking for any unbiased Web resources? hope this review helps!

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned alot. Gives a overview of the development of ethnic tensions and conflict in Sri Lanka.