Young People's Everyday Politics in Post-conflict Sri Lanka

Abstract

Since the civil war ended in 2009, political spaces in eastern Sri Lanka have remained restricted. The authors examine how young people in areas formerly controlled by or with the presence of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) engage in politics by making safe spaces. A framework for understanding youth politics is presented in order to explain how youths' political spaces are found at the interface of two axes: the axis between political presence and political involvement; and the axis between voiceless politics and vocal politics. Through locating young people's perspectives, practices and realities in relation to these axes, the authors find that war-affected youths in eastern Sri Lanka are stuck in their everyday politics, which prevents their full political presence and involvement. Repolitisation is needed to mobilise youths' political agency.

Acknowledgement

The research project ‘Mobilising youth for recovery and reconstruction in situations of displacement—spaces and places of social inclusion’ was funded by the Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU). The paper was presented at the AAG in New York, February 2013, many thanks for useful comments from the participants in the session on “Children and young people's everyday politics”. We would also like to thank Kirsi Pauliina Kallio and Jouni Häkli for organising the session and the anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Notes

Equal authorship.

The ethnic composition of the population in Sri Lanka as a whole is uncertain, but drawing on the 1981 census the commonly cited proportions are 74 per cent Sinhalese, 12 per cent Sri Lankan Tamils, 7 per cent Muslims, 6 per cent Indian Tamils and 1 per cent other groups, including Burghers, Malays and indigenous groups. Among the minorities, a substantial number live in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka.