Women & the Nation's Narrative: Gender and Nationalism in Twentieth Century Sri LankaThis book explores the development of nationalism in Sri Lanka during the past century, particularly within the dominant Sinhala Buddhist and militant Tamil movements. Tracing the ways women from diverse backgrounds have engaged with nationalism, Neloufer de Mel argues that gender is crucial to an understanding of nationalism and vice versa. Traversing both the colonial and postcolonial periods in Sri Lanka's history, the author assesses a range of writers, activists, political figures, and movements almost completely unknown in the West. With her rigorous, historically located analyses, de Mel makes a persuasive case for the connections between figures like actress Annie Boteju and art historian and journalist Anil de Silva; poetry whether written by Jean Arasanayagam or Tamil revolutionary women; and political movements like the LTTE, the JVP, the Mother's Front, and contemporary feminist organizations. Evaluating the colonial period in light of the violence that animates Sri Lanka today, de Mel proposes what Bruce Robbins has termed a 'lateral cosmopolitanism' that will allow coalitions to form and to practice an oppositional politics of peace. In the process, she examines the gendered forms through which the nation and the state both come together and pull apart. The breadth of topics examined here will make this work a valuable resource for South Asianists as well as for scholars in a wide range of fields who choose to consider the ways in which gender inflects their areas of research and teaching. |
Contents
John de Silvas Nationalist Theatre and the Entrance of Annie Boteju | 57 |
Anil Marcia de Silvas Rite of Passage | 102 |
Jean Arasanayagams Landscape of the Nation | 162 |
The Sri Lankan Woman Militant in the Interregnum | 203 |
Notes on the Contemporary Sri Lankan Womens Movement | 233 |
Bibliography | 282 |
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Common terms and phrases
20th century actresses Anagarika Dharmapala Anil de Silva Anil's Annie Boteju Bal Gandharva Bandaranaike became Bengali Binodini Binodini Dasi Bombay British Buddhist Burgher Buttala campaign Caribbean caste Colombo colonial cosmopolitan cultural Delhi Derek Walcott Dharmapala discourse drama Dutch elite English ethnic ethno-nationalism female impersonation Feminism feminist Front gender George Hindu human rights Ibid ideology Indian indigenous IPTA issues Jaffna Jean Arasanayagam John de Silva Kali for Women Kandy Kantha Kumari Jayawardena Kurunegala labour language lives London LTTE male Marg Matara ment Michael Roberts militant modern Mothers Mulk Raj Anand Muslim nationalist organisations Parsi party Perera performance play poem political postcolonial role Routledge sexual significant Sinhala Buddhist Sinhala theatre Sinhalese SLFP society South Asia Sri Lanka Sri Lankan women stage story struggle Tamil women tion took Tower Hall tradition University Press village violence Walcott western woman women's groups women's movement writing
Popular passages
Page 48 - I know of no sustained analytical discussions of nationness as an event, as something that suddenly crystallizes rather than gradually develops, as a contingent, conjuncturally fluctuating, and precarious frame of vision and basis for individual and collective action, rather than as a relatively stable product of deep developmental trends in economy, polity, or culture.
Page 49 - However, its basic claim is that a comparative study of citizenship should consider the issue of women's citizenship not only by contrast to that of men, but also in relation to women's affiliation to dominant or subordinate groups, their ethnicity, origin and urban or rural residence.