Positive responses, uneven experiences: intersections of gender, ethnicity, and location in post-tsunami Sri Lanka

Abstract

This article examines the role of women in post-tsunami livelihoods recovery in two tsunami-affected villages in the Hambantota District, South Sri Lanka. It considers four key livelihoods recovery strategies involving women, revealing their immense capacity to overcome socially constructed disaster impacts. Their ability to respond positively is grounded in specific geographic and cultural contexts, making location and ethnicity of profound consequence. Although pre-existing ethnic backgrounds, influenced by religious and patriarchal structures, are critical indicators of the uneven ways in which women engaged in livelihoods recovery, the tsunami generated new patterns of cultural practice. The article adds to research that goes beyond the simplistic representation of women as undifferentiated ‘victims’ in post-tsunami Sri Lanka. It stimulates discussion on the lived experiences of intersectionality in feminist geography, and emphasizes the broader relevance of the study for understanding multiple and transforming positionalities that constitute the post-disaster lives of women in divergent socio-political contexts.

Este artículo examina el rol de las mujeres en la recuperación de medios de vida luego del tsunami en dos villas afectadas por éste en el distrito de Hambantota, en el sur de Sri Lanka. Considera cuatro estrategias de recuperación de medios de vida que involucran a las mujeres, revelando su inmensa capacidad para superar los impactos socialmente construidos de los desastres. Su capacidad para responder en forma positiva está arraigada en contextos geográficos y culturales específicos, haciendo la ubicación y la etnicidad algo de una profunda importancia. Mientras los orígenes étnicos prexistentes, influenciados por las estructuras patriarcales y religiosas son indicadores críticos de las formas desparejas en las que las mujeres participan de la recuperación de sus medios de vida, el tsunami generó nuevos patrones de práctica cultural. El artículo aporta a la investigación que va más allá de la representación simplista de las mujeres como “víctimas” indiferenciadas en el Sri Lanka post tsunami. Estimula la discusión sobre las experiencias vividas de interseccionalidad en la geografía feminista, y enfatiza la relevancia más amplia del estudio para la comprensión de las posicionalidades múltiples y en transformación que constituyen las vidas post desastre de las mujeres en contextos sociopolíticos divergentes.

本文检视斯里兰卡南部汉班托塔地区（Hambantota District）两个受到海啸冲击的村庄，在后海啸时期生活重建中女性的角色。本研究考虑女性主要参与的四大生活重建策略，展现出她们具有广大的能力以克服社会建构的灾难冲击。她们能够正面响应的能力深植于特定的地理和文化脉络，因而地点和族裔具有显著的重要性。由宗教与父权结构所影响的既有族裔背景是女性参与生活重建的不平等方式的重要指示，但海啸本身却触发了崭新的文化实践模式。本文将补充超越视女性为斯里兰卡海啸中同质受难者的简化再现之研究，触发女性主义地理学中关于生活经验的交错性讨论，并对理解在歧异社会政治脉络中形塑灾后女性生活的多重变异立场，强调更为广泛的关联性。

Keywords:

• gender
• intersectionality
• 2004 tsunami
• rural livelihoods
• Sri Lanka

Keywords:

• género
• interseccionalidad
• tsunami de 2004
• medios de vida rurales
• Sri Lanka

Keywords:

• 性别
• 相互交错
• 2004年海啸
• 乡村生活
• 斯里兰卡

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to the benefactors of the Clarendon Scholarship (University of Oxford) and Sloane-Robinson Scholarship (Keble College) for giving me the opportunity to study at the University of Oxford, UK, and the Gordon Smith Award (Keble College) for contributing towards fieldwork in Sri Lanka. I would like to thank Dr Craig Jeffrey for his excellent guidance at the start of this research and Dr Patricia Daley for encouraging me to find the originality in my fieldwork findings. I am grateful to Mrs Chitranganie Mubarak, Dr Azeez Mohamed Mubarak, and Dr Rohini Jayatilaka for their useful observations and editorial advice during the early stages of writing this article. I also thank the three anonymous reviewers and Prof. Robyn Longhurst whose constructive and detailed suggestions significantly improved this article. My heartfelt gratitude goes to all those who have helped in fieldwork and the people of South Sri Lanka for their time, sincerity, and hospitality.

Notes

 1. The latter two reflections also mark women's vulnerability to gendered violence (de Mel 2007), and their inability to negotiate economic losses in a disaster situation (Amirthalingam and Lakshman 2009).

 2. Sri Lanka is divided into four administrative layers: nine Provinces, 26 Districts (of which 14 are coastal Districts), 325 Divisional Secretariats, and 14,110 Grama Niladhari Divisions (villages), in descending order of hierarchy.

 3. Ethnicity in Sri Lanka is based on religion and language. Muslims and Malays practice Islam, but Muslims are identified as part of the Tamil-speaking community and Malays speak Bahasa Melayu. The Sinhalese speak Sinhala and are primarily Buddhists, although some are Christians. There are various religious practices that Sinhala-Buddhists have adopted, whose roots can be traced to the Hindu tradition, thereby making distinct ethno-religious identities less clear. For excellent explanations on Sri Lankan Malay identity, see Osman and Sourjah (2005) and on Sinhala people see Scott (1995).

 4. A 1981 Act which defined the ‘no build’ coastal zone as 300 m, although not strictly enforced, was reinforced post-tsunami as ‘buffer zones’ of 200 m in the North and East and 100 m elsewhere.

 5. Translation is not a mere technical endeavour; it involves reading nuances of respondents, circumstances, and communicative relations. The losses in translating between languages are hence inevitable.

 6. Multiday boats exploit deep-sea fish resources and stay at sea for one to four weeks at a time.

 7. In 2009, the approximate currency conversion for 100 rupees was 1 US Dollar.

 8. One lakh is equivalent to 100,000 Sri Lankan rupees.

 9. Non-motorized boats are used for prawn fishing up to 32 km off the coast. Fixed with inboard engines, day boats operate up to about 15 km from the shore and engage in fishing trips not exceeding one day.

10. Sri Lankan fishermen are directly involved in the selling of their catch, giving them more control over the money earned than female householders.

11. FCSs channel credit/subsidies, maintain savings deposits, and supply fishing requisites (e.g. fuel and fishing gear) for fishermen.

12. JBS is a micro credit union that forms part of an NGO, Janashakthi, established in 1989 with the aim of empowering rural women in the Hambantota District.

13. RRWO is the working unit of an NGO established in 1990, devoted to improving the socio-economic conditions of rural women in the Hambantota District.