Blowback: Linguistic Nationalism, Institutional Decay, and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka (Contemporary Issues in Asia and the Pacific) - Hardcover

DeVotta, Neil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080474923X ISBN 13: 9780804749237

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 2004

Synopsis

This book analyzes the way ethnic outbidding, initiated by Sinhalese linguistic nationalists in the mid-1950s, led to the unfair treatment of Sri Lanka's minorities and to institutional decay, which in turn mobilized the Tamils to seek a separate state. The author's explanation, based on hitherto overlooked primary research, utilizes a historical institutionalist perspective and encompasses primordialist, constructivist, and instrumentalist explanations to explain Sri Lanka's civil war.

About this title

Review:

"DeVotta has submitted an elaborate, interesting, theory-led study of the Sri Lankan conflict. Focusing on the language politics, he allude to a highly sensitive topic in the history of Tamil-Sinhalese ethnic relations. In addition, the extensive quotations enable the reader to comprehend the political view of the Sinhala and Tamil elites at that time."--Internationales Asienforum

"DeVotta's detailed historical approach makes the book a fine case study for social scientists in general and for anyone with a serious interest in ethnic conflict in South Asia."--Journal of Asian Studies

"The resounding strength of DeVotta's book is that it provides a truly nuanced understanding of the productive ideological linking of language to collective notions of peoplehood within the postcolonial state. His book richly illustrates the ways that language ideologies are created, linked to competing versions of national identity, and intimately embedded in institutionalized positions of power."--Journal of Anthropological Research

"Neil DeVotta's devastating indictment of Sinhala linguistic nationalism offers a well-researched historical narrative and theoretical discussion of the origins of the conflict."--ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS

From the Back Cover:

"DeVotta's detailed historical approach makes the book a fine case study for social scientists in general and for anyone with a serious interest in ethnic conflict in South Asia."--Journal of Asian Studies
"The resounding strength of DeVotta's book is that it provides a truly nuanced understanding of the productive ideological linking of language to collective notions of peoplehood within the postcolonial state. His book richly illustrates the ways that language ideologies are created, linked to competing versions of national identity, and intimately embedded in institutionalized positions of power."--Journal of Anthropological Research

About this edition

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 080474923X
• ISBN 13: 9780804749237
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304