HIS 4276 Sri Lanka since Independence

Objectives
The purpose of this course is to examine the creative forces and critical moments in the making of the socio-historical world of post-independence Sri Lanka. A thread that runs through the various topics covered is the assertion of rights of both the majority ethno-religious group and of the minority Tamils; the violent quest for equality by anti-systemic movements; the transformation of the welfare state in a globalizing world; the decay of democratic values and institutions.
1. The colonial graft
2. Citizens and migrants: citizenship acts of 1948-49
3. Post-war social unrest and the decline of the Left
4. 1956, nationalism and rise of counter-elites
5. The New Left and political violence 1970-1990
6. Tamil separatism/nationalism
7. Economy: state control, liberalization, globalization
8. Crisis of the welfare state
9. The decay of democratic institutions

Readings
Saman Kelegama, Development under Stress: Sri Lankan Economy in Transition, Sage Publ.2007
Krishna Sankaran, Postcolonial Insecurities: India, Sri Lanka, and the question of Nationhood, Oxford, 2000
Neil de Votta, Blowback: Linguistic Nationalism, Institutional Decay, and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka, Satnford CA, 2004
Nira Wickramasinghe, Sri Lanka in the Modern Age. A History of Contested Identities, London: C.Hurst, 2006