Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Map of Sri Lanka
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Currency Equivalents
- Citizenship and Statelessness in Sri Lanka
- Chapter 1 Raising Questions
- Chapter 2 Colonialism: The Burden of History
- Chapter 3 1948: Disenfranchisement
- Chapter 4 1954: The Agreement that Failed
- Chapter 5 1964: The Agreement that “Succeeded”
- Chapter 6 1967: The Start of the Implementation
- Chapter 7 1970–1977: “Sirima Times” – Pressure to Leave
- Chapter 8 1988: The End of a Saga
- Chapter 9 Retrospection
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Appendix
- Glossary
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Map of Sri Lanka
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Currency Equivalents
- Citizenship and Statelessness in Sri Lanka
- Chapter 1 Raising Questions
- Chapter 2 Colonialism: The Burden of History
- Chapter 3 1948: Disenfranchisement
- Chapter 4 1954: The Agreement that Failed
- Chapter 5 1964: The Agreement that “Succeeded”
- Chapter 6 1967: The Start of the Implementation
- Chapter 7 1970–1977: “Sirima Times” – Pressure to Leave
- Chapter 8 1988: The End of a Saga
- Chapter 9 Retrospection
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Appendix
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
There was much weeping and wailing. Some of the women were beating their breasts, knowing that they would never see their homeland again, the place where they were born, the countryside where they toiled, the home where they married, where they gave birth to their children, ate, drank, danced and slept, performed religious ceremonies and buried their dead. Destined to see these familiar places no more, they were being torn apart, severed into two.
(Satyodaya Bulletin, quoted in Fries & Bibin 1984, 52)This work is a reflection of my struggles with my own dualistic perceptions of societal processes as I have experienced them in Sri Lanka. Because of my upbringing and location in a plural society such as Sri Lanka, my responses have comprised concerns and frustrated despair at seeing Sri Lanka sundered by ethnic animosities and intolerance, instead of celebrating the plurality and diversity of culture and language which so richly endow our lives.
This book is about the repatriation of Tamils of Indian origin from Sri Lanka to India. Repatriation was the outcome of the decisions that were made by policymakers from two countries. In the end, it turned into a humanitarian crisis, which resulted in thousands of people being uprooted from a country they had legitimately called their home and in the separation of families who had once lived together.
Repatriation affected Tamils of Indian origin from all walks of life – the traders, the money lenders, the unskilled laborers in urban areas, as well as those who worked as domestic servants or labored on the estates.
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- Citizenship and Statelessness in Sri LankaThe Case of the Tamil Estate Workers, pp. ix - xPublisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2009