Warzone tourism in Sri Lanka : tales from darker places in paradise

255 Pages·2016·3.355 MB·English

by  Sasanka Perera

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Advance Praise
Warzone Tourism in Sri Lanka: Tales from Darker Places in Paradise
presents an ethnographic account of a specific contemporary politico-
cultural practice in Sri Lanka—travel to the North during the ceasefire
and after the end of war. The term ‘warzone tourism’ captures the
multiplicity of meanings embedded in the travel to the areas that con-
stituted the geographical, social and ethno-cultural locations of nearly
three decades of civil war. The book explores through extensive ethno-
graphic material, questions such as what does travel and tourism into the
warzone mean in the context of a civil war tempered by ethnic conflict.
What are the political, ideological, cultural and emotional impulses that
motivate, define and make sense of such travel? What are the political
implications of travelling, viewing and narrating when seen as social and
cultural practices given specific meanings during and after war and vio-
lence? Is it continuation of war by other means? The book provides a
critical and insightful reading of a phenomenon that has been taken for
granted and intellectually ignored for far too long.
Jayadeva Uyangoda
Senior Professor, Department of Political Science and Public
Policy, University of Colombo
Most anthropologists dwell on the present to write about past practices
and focus on the everyday in an effort to make sense of the world as it has
been and is known, experienced and understood. Sasanka Perera’s book
stands out for his extraordinary ability to focus not just on Sri Lanka’s
turbulent past and the present mobility patterns of people so closely
linked to that past, but also to an intricate consideration of why and how
people seek to connect to the past. The past is after all what prevails in the
present moment, whether or not we acknowledge this past, and Perera
makes this smooth association between the civil war that split the coun-
try and its people and the present need to connect to that past, as well as
to an even earlier imagined past of stability and harmony, through a very
visceral, emotional, embodied present…. It is an ingenious portrayal of a
new phenomenon and Sasanka Perera has done it with rigorous analysis,
thick description, panache and in the process has achieved the i mpossible
in academic writing: told a tale remarkably well.
Meenakshi Thapan
Professor, Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics,
University of Delhi
As passionately argued and persuasively illustrated by Sasanka Perera
in this path-breaking study, ‘warzone tourism’ in Sri Lanka has a far
more complex geography and history to it than often acknowledged. It
has evolved in the context of post-colonial nation-building marred by
the socio-spatial legacies of a protracted civil war. These legacies have
also manifested themselves through highly convoluted and contested
discursive battlefields of competing, often colliding, ethnographies,
cartographies and iconographies. Mental borders as social constructions
have proved to be far more stubborn than walls, fences, barriers, and
check posts built during the civil war…. Seen together, the analysis by
Perera of the two phases of warzone tourism in Sri Lanka reveals complex
assemblages of practices, including state sponsored practices and
insightfully unravels several entangled logics and emotions. Against the
backdrop of deep-rooted mistrust, large-scale destruction and displace-
ment, they have left behind both intended and non-intended imprints on
the mindscapes of both the visitors and the visited.
Sanjay Chaturvedi
Professor, Centre for the Study of Geopolitics, Department of
Political Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh
WARZONE TOURISM
IN SRI LANKA
Tales from Darker Places
in Paradise
Sasanka Perera
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WARZONE TOURISM
IN SRI LANKA
Tales from Darker Places
in Paradise
Sasanka Perera
Copyright © Sasanka Perera, 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
First published in 2016 by
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Published by Vivek Mehra for SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd, typeset in
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Perera, Sasanka.
Title: Warzone tourism in Sri Lanka : tales from darker places in paradise /
Sasanka Perera.
Description: New Delhi ; Thousand Oaks, California : SAGE, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016001972| ISBN 9789351509226 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9789351509233 (ebook) | ISBN 9789351509219 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Tourism–Social aspects–Sri Lanka. | Sinhalese (Sri Lankan)
people–Travel–Sri Lanka–Jaffna District. | Ethnic relations–Sri Lanka.
| Sri Lanka–History–Civil War, 1983-2009–Influence.
Classification: LCC G155.S65 P47 2016 | DDC 915.49304/32—dc23 LC record
available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016001972
ISBN: 978-93-515-0922-6 (HB)
The SAGE Team: Supriya Das, Guneet Kaur Gulati and Shobana Paul
For Gananath Obeyesekere, Mattison Mines, Donald Brown and David
Brokenshaw for early guidance in a transcontinental intellectual journey