Sitralega Maunaguru
Professor
Department of Languages
Eastern University of Sri Lanka
E/ sitralega@yahoo.com
Re-living the Devastated Social Landscape?
A Study on Continuity and Discontinuity of Social Relations in Religious
Spaces in the East of Sri Lanka
Saturday, June 2nd
| 9:30 - 11:30 AM
In the eastern region of Srilanka, Tamils and Muslims
have been living together over many centuries. Both communities share
one common language – Tamil. However they perceive them selves
ethnically different; the difference is by religion- Islam for Muslims
and Hinduism for Tamils. Since 1960s, communities have been under going
inter-ethnic clashes, escalating into multiple displacements and
massacres. The mosques became the sites of violence, suffering and
political\ ethnic mobilization. Despite of such eruptions, Muslims and
Tamils continued to live in next to each other, work at each other’s
paddy fields, engage in business with each other, and share same routes
for travel.
In this paper I highlight certain traditional spaces such as religious
sites where both communities share beliefs and rituals to date. I pose a
question that how people continue to live and still able to relate with
each other in spite of haunting memories resulted from political
violence. Are these spaces provide\ facilitate forums for people to deal
with their relations? Are these spaces mending the broken bonds? How the
continuity and discontinuity of social relationship between these
communities reshape their relationships in the time of political
violence. I am raising these questions based on the study on worship
practices and social texture surrounding such practices in Auliya
Pallivaasalkal (Auliya Mosques - Burial sites of Muslim saints) in
some towns and villages in Batticaloa.
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Dr. Maunaguru's research interests are Tamil literature, folklore and
gender. Her publications include: “Gender and Tamil Nationalism: The
Construction of Women in Projects of Protests and Control”, in
Unmaking the Nation: The Politics of Identity and History in Modern Sri
Lanka (1995); Literature, Ideology and Time: Bharthi on Women,
Vipulam, Batticaloa (1996); “Women and Religious Rituals: Some
observations based on the Religious Traditions in Batticaloa” in
Gender, Ideology and Religion (2003); "Conflict and Development in
Eastern Srilanka: The Gender Dimension" in Dealing with Diversity:
Srilankan Discourses on Peace and Conflict (2004); Oral
Traditions as Sources of History: Essays on Batticaloa Folklore
(ed., 2004).