Sri Lanka in the Modern Age recounts the modern history of the island in an accessible yet unconventional manner. Where other histories have tended to focus on the state’s failure to accommodate the needs and demands of minority communities, Wickramasinghe places their claims alongside the political, social and economic demands of other communities, parties, associations and groups, tracing their lineages to the colonial period. This paperback edition carries the book into the present, covering the brutal end of Sri Lanka’s civil war and the making of the oppressive stability that has arisen in its wake.
Drawing on recent work as well as on her own research in the field, Wickramasinghe has written above all a history of the people of Sri Lanka rather than a history of the nation-state.
Contents: Preface: Identities and Histories. Part I: Pre-Independence Years: Changing Lives: 1. Colonial encounters. 2. Colonialism and constructed identities. 3. National framings: authentic bodies and things. 4. Before independence: communities and conflicts. Part II: The Post-Independence Years: Political Cultures: 5. Citizens, communities, rights, constitutions, 1947-2000. 6. The search for equality: the left movement and insurrections. 7. The search for sovereignty: Tamil separatism/nationalism. 8. Sri Lanka: the welfare state and beyond. 9. Only a great land wounded: the end of the war. 10. The post-war state: the making of oppressive stability. Select Bibliography. Index.
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