Ethnic Crisis: Inadequacy of Traditional Interpretations

Sunday, December 25, 2011
By Victor Ivan

The impact of caste, creed and language on Sri Lanka

This article is meant to analyse the inadequacy of traditional interpretations of the ethnic crisis and point out limitations inherent in them.
It is not incorrect to treat this issue as an ethnic crisis. Yet, in my opinion, it is not correct to treat it only as a conflict based on ethnic differences that prevail between the majority Sinhala community and the other minority communities -Tamils and Muslims. In other words, the crisis scenario embraces different facets that extend beyond ethnic lines. The traditional interpretation has its own limitations and according to which it is only an outcome of an ethnic conflict among the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities. It has overlooked the implicit conflict that prevails among different religious groups and social divisions based on caste system. Consequently, religio-social dimensions of this crisis have been either ignored or excluded and the issue is defined only in terms of ethnic differences.Read More »