Abiding by Sri Lanka

<div> <div>The lack of peace in Sri Lanka is commonly portrayed as a consequence of a violent ethnonationalist conflict between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. Viewed in this light resolution could be attained through conflict management. But as Qadri Ismail reveals this is too simplistic an understanding and cannot produce lasting peace. <br> <br> <i>Abiding by Sri Lanka</i> examines how the disciplines of anthropology history and literature treat the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict. Anthropology Ismail contends approaches Sri Lanka as an object from an outside and western point of view. History addressing the conflict from the inside abides by the place and so promotes change that is nationalist and exclusive. Neither of these fields imagines an inclusive community. Literature Ismail argues can. <br> <br> With close readings of texts that abide by Sri Lanka texts that have a commitment to it Ismail demonstrates that the problems in Sri Lanka raise fundamental concerns for us all regarding the relationship between democracies and minorities. Recognizing the structural as well as political tendencies of representative democracies to suppress minorities Ismail rethinks democracy by redefining the concept of the minority perspective not as a subject-position of numerical insignificance but as a conceptual space that opens up the possibility for distinction without domination and ultimately peace. <br> <br> Qadri Ismail is associate professor of English at the University of Minnesota. He has also been a journalist in Sri Lanka.</div> </div>