Ethnic war and traditional status in an ethnically mixed community: a study of Panama on the east coast of Sri Lanka

Journal article

This study explores the impact of war on the internal fragmentation of traditional status groups in an ethnically mixed village community in Sri Lanka. The study location is Panampattuwa, situated in Ampara District on the east coast of Sri Lanka. The methodology of the study consists of life histories and memories of the people, together with observations by the researcher made in two phases which cover both the war and post-war periods in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. The main finding is that claims of ethnic belonging have started to change. The higher castes tend to identify with the majority community of the country, the Sinhalese, while the lower castes identify with the ethnic minority, the Tamil. This has led to the emergence of a castebased ethnic identity.

Authors: Abeyrathne, U

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Anthropological Society of Oxford
• Journal: Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford Online
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 55-73
• Publication date: 2012-01-01
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-kz42npg4j
• ISSN: 2040-1876
• Language: English
• Keywords: JASO