The betrayals of neoliberalism in Shyam Selvadurai's Funny Boy

Abstract

In this essay I suggest that analysis of the consequences of neoliberalism is central to the representation of Arjie and his family in Shyam Selvadurai's 1994 novel Funny Boy. Not only does an examination of this relatively undiscussed phenomenon reframe our view of the novel’s thematic concerns, it also points to some important ways in which the novel intervenes in discussions in the social sciences about the relationship between neoliberal economic policies and the Sri Lankan civil war. Whereas neoliberal economists have tended to view conflicts around ethnic nationalism, homophobia, and other social forces as unfortunate, incidental factors that thwart economic progress, Selvadurai's novel exposes the complex ways in which economic policy both produces and perpetuates generations of ingrained understandings of individual and group identity.