Sri Lankan Tamil Research Articles

Malignant transformation of a long-standing submental dermoid cyst to a carcinosarcoma: a case report

BackgroundSubmental dermoid cysts are uncommon midline cysts which occur due to entrapment of ectoderm between the second and third branchial arches during embryogenesis. Most dermoid cysts of the head and neck are benign, but rarely malignant transformation may occur. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a carcinosarcoma arising in a submental dermoid cyst.Case presentationA 42-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil man presented with a large cystic swelling in his submental region which was diagnosed as an extensive submental dermoid cyst. The cyst had been asymptomatic for 11 years but there was sudden enlargement and pain during the past 2 months. On surgical removal, a primary carcinosarcoma arising from part of the cyst wall was identified. After completion of radiotherapy, the disease was well controlled and he was disease free at 18 months.ConclusionsAlthough extremely rare, a dermoid cyst of the submental region can undergo malignant transformation. It can be successfully treated with surgical excision and radiotherapy.

Dalit Literatures in India eds. by Joshil K. Abraham and Judith Misrahi-Barak

Joshil K. Abraham and Judith Misrahi-Barak, eds. Literatures in India. New Delhi: Routledge, 2016. Pp. 366. US$160. In their introduction, the editors of Literatures in India, Joshil K. Abraham and Judith Misrahi-Barak, quite rightly ask, [H]ow is it possible that the major political and literary development that has deeply altered the Indian academic and non-academic world as well as Indian society at large in the last three decades, has not had a greater echo outside India? (1). Almost all Indian literary language journals and presses since the 1990s have regularly published literature; in fact, Dalit-identified writers have worked assiduously to define the field as Dalit rather than working class or Marxist literature (as in the case of the Sri Lankan Tamil writer K. Daniel whose novels published in the 1960s and 1970s, set in Northern Sri Lankan communities, were described as part of his leftist activism). It is not an exaggeration to claim that the most exciting development in many regional languages in recent years is a result of writing, instantly identifiable by its powerfully articulated refusal of local pieties. literature is deeply aware of its need to bring something new into the world. Even the coining of the name Dalit--which means broken people--as a collective term referring to the various Dalit-identified communities living on the subcontinent and in the diaspora connotes a history of powerlessness. Literatures in India presents issues to non-Indian readers who lack rudimentary knowledge about the phenomenon of literature. The first essay, which sets the tone for the collection, is by G. N. Devy, the Chair of the People's Linguistic Survey of India. This is a survey administered by thousands of volunteer activists in order to mitigate the official Census of India's inability to count all reported languages. Elsewhere, Devy has written persuasively on the politics of such classifications, since state language policies impact the very survival of the speakers of minority languages. But the essay in the collection here, Caste Differently, is reprinted from the literary magazine Fountain Ink and summarizes key criticisms of Indian scriptural discourses (drawn mostly from B. R. Ambedkar) then highlights the British colonial administrative actions that are the foundational epistemes of contemporary Indian caste society. For the reader who expects to read about the current controversies over Bhasbas (the indigenous languages of the subcontinent), which are at the heart of Devy s work, the explanatory mode of the essay, which avoids the vibrant polemic that characterizes his work elsewhere, is a disappointment. Even a seasoned academic like M. S. S. Pandian, in Caste and Democracy: Three Paradoxes, writes a general essay on the topic rather than the expected continuation of the epilogue from his polemical Brahmin and Non-Brahmin, which quotes the Tamil philosopher and literary writer Raj Gowthaman. Given that scholarly writing is thriving in multiple Indian languages, the volume has few striking essays on literature. Pramod K. Nayar has one of the best essays in the collection on the Indian graphic novel A Gardner in the Wastland, K. Satyanarayana has a superb essay on the convergences of the Durban Discourse (the human rights rhetoric that came into being in the wake of the 2001 Durban conference on race) and the cosmopolitan identity presented in Narendhra Jadhav's 2003 memoir, Outcaste: A Memoir, and Rajkumar Hans' essay on the ignored intellectual poets of Punjab from the late seventeenth to early twentieth century is important. …

Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees in India: Conceptual Framework of Repatriation Success


 
 Repatriation to Sri Lanka has become a primary challenge to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Indian refugee camps, and a matter of significant public discussion in India and Sri Lanka. Anxiety about repatriation among Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and lack of initiation from the Sri Lankan government threatens the development of a coherent repatriation strategy. This article proposes a conceptual framework of repatriation success for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, which the Sri Lankan government, non-governmental agencies, and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees may use to develop a concrete strategy for repatriation. Based upon the study results of two of the authors’ repatriation studies, this article identifies and describes the four key concepts of the repatriation framework: livelihood development, language and culture awareness, social relationships, and equal citizenship within a nation.
 

Indo-Sri Lanka Bilateral Relations: Analytical Review on Political & Cultural Relations Since 2005

In ancient history, India and Sri Lanka maintained close relationship with each other’s due to closed geographical proximity. Meanwhile religious and political ideology brought important factors to determine bilateral relations between both countries. In modern international relations both countries maintain close relationship with each other’s in Political and Cultural arena. Thru the political and cultural interdependency India has become a key player in regional and international development scenario. Indo-Sri Lanka Political and Cultural relations mark critical point since the beginning of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Sinhala Tamil ethnic conflict which is protracted internal war made more Indian involvement to Sri Lanka in past three decades. Under His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Indo-Sri Lanka Bilateral Relations began into develop interdependency with each other’s. Moreover India becomes more influence party to determine Northern and Eastern development over Sri Lankan Tamil community during Eleam War IV and post war era.

Bridging faith, languages and learning in London: a faith teacher reflects upon pedagogy in religious instruction classes

ABSTRACTIn this article, we examine a faith teacher's reflections on faith literacy teaching and learning and how they shaped his pedagogy in the context of Hindu/Saiva religious instruction classes for students of Sri Lankan Tamil heritage. The data are part of a larger multi-site three-year team ethnography of children's faith literacy learning in places of worship, religious education classes and homes across four ethno-linguistic communities in London (Bangladeshi Muslim, Polish Catholic, Ghanaian Pentecostal and Tamil Hindu/Saiva). In this article, we focus on one of the Hindu/Saiva faith teachers by combining an in-depth semi-structured interview with the teacher in question with participant observations and video-recordings of faith lessons. Drawing on the faith teacher's reflections, we identify the changes in the nature and scope of faith literacy learning across time and in the London diasporic setting and demonstrate how the faith teacher responded to them by adopting flexible language practices where English (the majority language) was used alongside Tamil (the community and devotional language) as a learning resource. The faith teacher's pedagogic approach emerged as a pragmatic and contextual response to the students’ diverse capabilities in class, with the purpose of making faith literacy learning accessible and relevant to their lives.

A study of HLA-B∗15:02 in a Sri Lankan population: Implications for pharmacogenomic testing

HLA-B∗15:02 is known as a biomarker for carbamazepine (CBZ) induced Steven-Johnson Syndrome and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (SJS/TEN) in some Asian populations. Hence United States Federal Drug Administration (USFDA) recommends HLA-B∗15:02 screening for Asian and other populations with a high prevalence of HLA-B∗15:02, prior to the administration of carbamazepine. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of HLA-B∗15:02 in a cohort of Sri Lankans. We observed an overall prevalence of 4.3% (4/93) among 93 Sri Lankans comprising 32 Sinhalese, 30 Sri Lankan Tamils and 31 Moors. The allele was detected in 3 [9.3%; 3/32] Sinhalese, 0 [0%; 0/30] Sri Lankan Tamils and in 1 [3%; 1/31] Moor. The overall prevalence of HLA-B∗15:02 in this population was close to that of other populations where the USFDA has recommended HLA-B∗15:02 screening. A larger study is required to confirm these findings, especially among the Sinhalese where the frequency appears to be high.

When Interculturality faces a Diaspora. The Transnational Tamil Identity

The Sri Lankan Tamils of the diaspora are a model of a transnational identity. From the theoretical point of view, Tamil identity challenges our mental habits and intercultural theory. If the Tamil diaspora tend to be distinguished both from the motherland and from Western, multicultural societies, then interculturality ceases to indicate a relationship between two poles, but becomes a three-pole connection, which includes the country of origin, the country of destination, and the diasporic community. The consciousness of these diasporic dynamics forces us to re-think our theoretical framework about interculturality, going beyond our actual approach based on nationally-defined concepts of society and culture. Overall, diasporas can be an excellent observation field of all transnational dynamics and through diasporas we can learn not concentrating on the migrants / residents dichotomy but focusing on people, their movements crossing national boundaries, and their specific needs.

Pre Historical Back Ground of Sri Lankan Tamil Violence Movement (From 1920 to 1970)

Pre Historical Back Ground of Sri Lankan Tamil Violence Movement (From 1920 to 1970)

War Traumatized Adolescents (WTA): A Study on the Coping Strategies Adopted by the School Going Adolescents, Vavuniya, Sri Lanka

This study on traumatized adolescents presents the causes and consequences of psychosocial impacts of war on a select cohort of traumatized adolescents. It initially contextualizes the problem by narrating the physical and psychological impacts of war on people. The sample of school going adolescents was selected from the Southern Educational Zone of Vavuniya in northern Sri Lanka, an area predominantly occupied by Sri Lankan Tamils. The relevant information on those traumatized adolescents was obtained from medical practitioners, school teachers and others who had worked with the said traumatized adolescents. A survey was conducted thereafter to obtain the required qualitative data. In many instances semi-structured interviews were held to elicit additional information. The coping strategies adopted by the said school children were then analyzed using the BASIC-Ph multi-dimensional approach, based on the multi-modal therapy (Lahad, 1992). In this study, the conceptualization of coping is based on a proposal by Lahad and his colleagues in which coping is viewed as a response to perceived stress which was defined as constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as taxing or exceeding the resources of a person. Findings of the research revealed that the selected samples of adolescents were least resilient to severe impacts of war and that their coping mechanisms varied due to varying factors such as their personality, social support, and spirituality. Overall, it may be said that nearly all of them showed symptoms of having been traumatized at different levels, with many of them needing psychosocial support.

The Sinhalese Diaspora: New Directions in Sri Lankan Diasporic Writing

ABSTRACTThis article investigates a particular sub-section of South Asian literature in English, namely, contemporary diasporic social realism fiction by Sri Lankan authors. It not only explores the little-discussed Sri Lankan Sinhalese diaspora which is usually overshadowed by the more numerous and better known Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, but it also focuses on middle-/upper middle-class migrants, whose migration, assimilation and resettlement encompass a very particular set of issues, especially with relation to their class and background. Middle-/upper middle-class Sinhalese migrants from Sri Lanka are more commonly economic migrants (as opposed to political migrants, refugees or asylum seekers). Sinhalese migrants carry a considerable amount of social capital, but generally seem unable to translate this into the correct and recognised currency of the host country, leading to certain frustrations and subsequent necessary (and occasionally painful) identity negotiations. Using Sri Lankan writing in English (SLWE), this article investigates the struggles of middle-/upper-class, Sinhalese economic migrants who attempt to negotiate their integration in their new host societies at a lower socio-economic level than that from whence they came.

Tamil in the temples – Language and religious maintenance beyond the first generation

AbstractThis study builds on research into the influence of religion on migrant language maintenance in Australia. In the case of Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus, previous studies have found that religious devoutness has a positive influence on the maintenance of Tamil in the home domain. In the religious domain, an ideology which links the Tamil language to the Tamil Hindu (Saiva) religion works in favour of maintaining Tamil in temple spaces in Australia. However this language-religion ideology is challenged by observations that, for the second generation Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu migrants growing up in Australia, a shift to English and disengagement from the religion is occurring. Through interviews with the leaders of three Tamil Hindu temples, I investigate the roles of different languages in the temples and ask whether the temples are contributing to Tamil language maintenance in the religious domain for the second generation. This paper highlights some of the issues faced by temples in engaging young generations in their heritage language and religion; as well as ways that temples are adapting, in a Western setting, in order to establish the religion for the long-term.

Canadian Multiculturalism as Banal Nationalism: Understanding Everyday Meanings Among Sri Lankan Tamils in Toronto

Abstract Multiculturalism is a contested concept and policy in the current context. Many European leaders have declared its failure, and scholars have traced a global backlash against multicultural policies, especially in Europe. Canadians, on the other hand, are more likely to view it positively, as a badge of citizenship or belonging. Being multicultural has become closely intertwined with what it means to be Canadian, especially for immigrants and their children. The focus of this paper is to unpack these meanings of among one immigrant group, most of whom are now Canadians, and their children: Sri Lankan Tamils in the Greater Toronto Area. Our aim is to better understand how members of this group view the relationship between their Canadian and Tamil identities in the context of multiculturalism. In particular, we are interested in the 'uptake' of the concept, practice, and policy of among Sri Lankan Tamil newcomers to Canada. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with both immigrants (first generation) and Sri Lankan Tamils born in Canada (second generation), we illustrate some of the ways in which operates as frontstage behaviour and as a more tacit backstage concept among those in the Greater Toronto Tamil diaspora. We argue that Canadian functions as 'banal nationalism' in Canada, as daily practices of tacit nation-building are produced and repeated on a daily basis among Sri Lankan Tamil Canadians. Resume Le multiculturalisme est un concept politique conteste dans le context actuel. De nombreux dirigeants europeens ont declare son echec, et plusieurs chercheurs ont trace une reaction generale contre les politiques multiculturelles, en particulier en Europe. Cependant, les Canadiens sont plus susceptibles de considerer positivement ce concept de multiculturalisme et l'etablissent comme une composante de la citoyennete ou de l'appartenance. Etre multiculturel est devenue aujourd'hui etroitement liee au fait d'etre Canadien, surtout pour les immigrants et leurs enfants. L'objectif de cet article est d'exposer les significations du multiculturalisme parmi un groupe d'immigrants dont la plupart sont maintenant des Canadiens, il s'agit des Tamouls sri-lankais dans la region du Grand Toronto. Notre objectif est de mieux comprendre comment les membres de ce groupe considerent la relation entre leurs identites (canadienne et tamoul) dans le contexte du multiculturalisme. En particulier, nous sommes interesses a l'> du concept, de la pratique et de la politique du multiculturalisme parmi les nouveaux arrivants sri-lankais tamouls au Canada. On se basant sur des entrevues et des groupes de discussion avec les immigrants Tamouls sri-lankais (premiere generation) et les Tamouls sri-lankais ne en Canada (deuxieme generation), nous illustrons quelques-unes des facons dont le multiculturalisme fonctionne comme un comportement de premier plan au debut de l'installation au Canada, puis comme un concept plus tacite dans la vie de la diaspora tamoule du Grand Toronto. Nous soutenons que les fonctions du multiculturalisme canadien, en tant que > au Canada, et en tant que pratiques quotidiennes de construction de la nation tacite, sont produites et repetees sur une base quotidienne entre sri-lankais tamouls canadiens. INTRODUCTION Multiculturalism is a contested concept and policy in the current context. Many European leaders have declared its failure, and scholars have traced global backlash against multicultural policies, especially in Europe (Kymlicka 2010). England's Prime Minister David Cameron, for example, argued in 2011 that state multiculturalism has encouraged different cultures to live different lives, often behaving in ways that run counter to our values and at the expense of a unifying vision of society to which they feel they want to belong (BBC News 2011). …

Finding the right spouse: Young Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu women in Denmark

This article focuses on second-generation, well-educated Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu women whom now live in the university towns of Denmark. After leaving their parents' homes in Denmark, they have begun to speak out, criticising matters concerning the Tamil Hindu tradition that they believe conflict with their lives in modern Danish society, both as Tamil Hindus, and as women. At the same time, they emphasise elements within the same tradition that, from their point of view, are so important, they want to pass them on to the next generation. This contradiction or conflict between connecting and disconnecting to tradition becomes obvious with regard to the discussion of finding the right spouse, where the young Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu women are caught in a conflict between following their parents marriage patterns and requirements with respect to including caste or kinship, or following their new effort to find an equally educated husband no matter of caste affiliation. This article gives examples from this discussion, which I have followed on the Internet over the last couple of years, supplemented with about 50 semi-structured interviews with young, second-generation, Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus.

On Responsible Distance: An Interview with R. Cheran by Aparna Halpé

R. Cheran speaks on his trajectory as a Tamil poet, journalist, and intellectual, during the years of conflict in Sri Lanka and on his current work as a playwright, activist, and collaborator in the development of Tamil diaspora studies with Chelva Kanaganayakam in Toronto, Canada. This interview provides a glimpse of the histories of dislocation, censorship, and exile that framed Tamil political, cultural, and intellectual life throughout the latter half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Precariously positioned as an artist and scholar who eschewed the non-democratic, militant positions of successive Sri Lankan governments and Tamil militant organizations, Cheran interrogates evolving notions of Tamil nationalism as articulated in the post-war context and looks to the future of the idea of the Tamil nation in Sri Lanka and around the world. This interview is a transcript of the public interview held at Trans(sub)continental Imaginations: Three Centuries of South Asian Literary English, a symposium in memory of Chelva Kanaganayakam, University of Toronto at Mississauga, 25 March 2015.

Commemorating home: Art as place making, an artist’s narration

The damage caused by 26 years of armed conflict in its various forms on the social fabric of the Sri Lankan Tamil community has led to the loss of place, as well as displacement for many, compelling individuals to live with traumatic and fragile memories of home. This visual essay foregrounds the changing role of the author’s own artistic practice conceived both as eye witness and facilitator in this context. The essay also explores how anthropological tools and museum techniques are employed to draw audiences into the aesthetics of individual pain connected to experiences of loss and displacement in conflict situations.

Locating art practice in the British Tamil Diaspora

This article locates the position of art practice within the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in the UK. It focuses on three artists who use their art making to investigate experiences of migration and multiple belonging, and shows how absence of institutional support have constituted a marginalisation of their work. The artists’ preference for visual art is at odds with the Tamil nationalist construction of an identity rooted in ancient poetry and drama, and Sinhala-focused support for artists in Sri Lanka has formed an invisibility of Tamils that extends to the British art scene. This situation is illuminated through a perspective that connects nationalist ideology with aesthetics of everyday life, and the analysis is expanded by gender and queer critiques of nationalism, which provide overlapping perceptions across South Asia and the diaspora. The article is based on 18 months’ ethnographic fieldwork in London, Belfast and Jaffna; it demonstrates how the artists negotiate between lack of institutional support and individual aims to reconfigure the present location of their practices.

Blood Pressure values of Sri Lankan Tamils in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka

Blood Pressure values of Sri Lankan Tamils in Jaffna District, Sri Lanka

A study of genetic polymorphisms in mitochondrial DNA hypervariable regions I and II of the five major ethnic groups and Vedda population in Sri Lanka.

Diversity of the hypervariable regions (HV) I and II of the mitochondrial genome was studied in maternally unrelated Sri Lankans (N=202) from six ethnic groups (i.e.: Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil, Muslim, Malay, Indian Tamil and Vedda). DNA was extracted from blood and buccal swabs and HVI and HVII regions were PCR amplified and sequenced. Resulting sequences were aligned and edited between 16024-16365 and 73-340 regions and compared with revised Cambridge reference sequences (rCRS). One hundred and thirty-five unique haplotypes and 22 shared haplotypes were observed. A total of 145 polymorphic sites and 158 polymorphisms were observed. Hypervariable region I showed a higher polymorphic variation than hypervariable region II. Nucleotide diversities were quite low and similar for all ethnicities apart from a slightly higher value for Indian Tamils and a much lower value for the Vedda population compared to the other groups. When the total population was considered South Asian (Indian) haplogroups were predominant, but there were differences in the distribution of phylo-geographical haplogroups between ethnic groups. Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamil and Vedda populations had a considerable presence of West Eurasian haplogroups. About 2/3rd of the Vedda population comprised of macro-haplogroup N or its subclades R and U, whereas macro-haplogroup M was predominant in all other populations. The Vedda population clustered separately from other groups and Sri Lankan Tamils showed a closer genetic affiliation to Sinhalese than to Indian Tamils. Thus this study provides useful information for forensic analysis and anthropological studies of Sri Lankans.

"Rather Than Talking in Tamil, They Should Be Talking to Tamils": Sri Lankan Tamil Refugee Readiness for Repatriation

Following the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009, Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in India are being expected to repatriate to their home country. Although voluntary repatriation has long been seen as the most effective and durable response to forced displacement, it can only be carried out by obtaining informed consent from refugees. This study examined Sri Lankan Tamil refugees’ readiness, support, concerns, resources, and strategies for repatriation. We found that participants were appreciative of the Indian Government’s support, but the Sri Lankan Government’s lack of a concrete repatriation plan was concerning. Lack of resources and infrastructure development, and lack of interventions to address intergenerational conflict are the main repatriation challenges identified by participants. Study implications for policy, practice, and research are also discussed. The study recommends an enhanced effort to restore the trust between State and citizens which is vital for a successful implementation of repatriation to Sri Lanka.

Predictors of the integration of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in Canada: pre-migration adversity, mental health, personal attributes, and post-migration experience

Purpose – Refugees integrate less successfully than other immigrants. Pre-migration stress, mental disorder and lack of human capital are the most popular explanations, but these propositions have received little empirical testing. The current study of Sri Lankan Tamils in Toronto, Canada, examines the respective contributions of pre-migration adversity, human capital, mental health and social resources in predicting integration. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Participants are a probability sample of 1,603 Sri Lankan Tamils living in Toronto, Canada. The team, with a community advisory council, developed structured interviews containing information about pre- and post-migration stressors, coping strategies, and family, community, and institutional support. The questionnaire included the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview module for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Interviews were translated, back-translated and administered by bilingual interviewers. Findings – Two dimensions of integration emerged from a factor analysis of integration-related items: economic and psychosocial. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that PTSD militated against refugee economic integration, whereas pre-migration adversity (but not PTSD) compromised psychosocial integration. On both measures, increasing length of residence in Canada, and gender (male) were predictors of good integration, whereas age at arrival had an inverse relationship with integration. Religiosity had a positive effect on psychosocial integration but a negative effect on economic. Favourable perceptions of the health care system predicted economic integration and non-family support predicted psychosocial integration. Originality/value – Results underline the importance of studying integration as a multifaceted phenomenon, help explain why refugees integrate less successfully than other immigrants, and highlight the importance of including mental health and mental health-related issues in integration discourse.