Performing Sovereign Aspirations - Tamil Insurgency and Postwar Transition in Sri Lanka

Challenges state-centric interpretations of insurgent politics by offering a performative perspective on Sri Lanka's Tamil nationalist movement.

List of contents

List of Illustrations; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Frequently Used Sri Lankan Terms; A Typographical Note on Separatism; Introduction; 1. Sovereignty, Performativity and Tamil Nationalism in Sri Lanka; 2. Performing an Insurgent Sovereign Experiment; 3. Reconstituting 'Pure Tamil Space' after Sovereign Erasure; 4. The Bureaucratic Evolution of Devolution; 5. Tamil Nationalist Anti-politics in the Wake of Defeat; 6. Conclusion; Epilogue; References; Index.

About the author

Bart Klem is an Associate Professor in Peace and Development studies at Gothenburg University (Sweden). He writes about everyday life and politics amidst armed conflict. He has conducted fieldwork across Sri Lanka's northeast since 2000. He co-authored Checkpoint, Temple, Church and Mosque (Pluto 2015) and co-edited journal issues on insurgent politics (Modern Asian Studies 2018) and on legal identity under insurgencies (Citizenship Studies 2024).

Summary

To-be-or-not-to-be dilemmas abound in the study of separatist insurgencies. Such movements create state-like institutions, which are simultaneously real and unreal. This book offers a performative perspective to confront these interpretative dilemmas. It offers an unprecedented rendition of Sri Lanka's Tamil nationalist movement. Open Access.

Foreword

Challenges state-centric interpretations of insurgent politics by offering a performative perspective on Sri Lanka's Tamil nationalist movement.

Product details

• Authors: Bart Klem, Bart (University of Gothenburg) Klem, Klem Bart
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.06.2024
• EAN: 9781009442466
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0944246-6
• No. of pages: 250
• Series: South Asia in the Social Sciences
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Sri Lanka, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Ideologies / General, military history, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Asian, 21st Century, 21st century history: from c 2000 -, Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, Revolutionary groups & movements, Early 21st century c 2000 to c 2050, Sri Lanka (Ceylon), c 1945 to c 2000 (Post-war period), Revolutionary groups and movements, Civil wars, HISTORY / Revolutions, Uprisings & Rebellions, HISTORY / Military / Civil Wars