Well over a million people of Sri Lankan origin live outside South Asia. The Encyclopedia of the Sri Lanka Diaspora is the first comprehensive study of the lives, culture, beliefs and attitudes of immigrants and refugees from this island. The volume is a joint publication between the Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS, and Editions Didier Millet. It focuses on the relationship between culture and economy in the Sri Lanka diaspora in the context of globalisation, increased transnational culture flows and new communication technologies. In addition to the geographic mapping of the Sri Lanka diaspora in the various continents, thematic chapters include topics on “long distance nationalism”, citizenship, Sinhala, Tamil and Burgher disapora identities, religion and the spread of Buddhism, as well as the Sri Lankan cultural impact on other nations.

This book details the potential of computer mediated technologies, particularly the internet, in creating and nurturing political and cultural identities among the widely dispersed â oeconflict-generatedâ Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora and traces the engagement of the disapora in Australia with the online media in the struggle for a homeland. Taking the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka as a given, the book explores the way in which new media has added dimensions to the issue. Although the theoretical framework of the book overflows into the areas of political communication, journalism, media theories and studies, nationalism, and social psychology, it draws heavily from the theories of Ellulâ (TM)s â oesocial propagandaâ and Andersonâ (TM)s concept of nation as an â oeimagined community.â Divided into three parts, the first part explores the potential of the internet to lead to the â oeimaginationâ of the nation by the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora; the second part traces the online engagement of the diaspora in the making of the homeland; and the third part contrasts it with the experiences and expectations of the homeland of the second generation of migrants in Australia and the Sri Lankan refugees in India. With the focus shifting to the diaspora after the announcement of the decimation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka in May 2009, the book aims to contribute to an understanding of the dynamics to underscore the increasingly significant role that communication technologies play in deciding the weave and warp of the fabric of a nation.

The South Asian Christian diaspora is largely invisible in the literature about religion and migration. This is the first comprehensive study of South Asian Christians living in Europe and North America, presenting the main features of these diasporas, their community histories and their religious practices. The authors present a great variety of Christian traditions. The South Asian Christian Diaspora is pluralistic both in terms of religious adherence, cultural tradition and geographical areas of origin. This book gives justice to this pluralism and presents a multiplicity of cultures and traditions typical of the South Asian Christian diaspora. Issues such as the institutionalization of the religious traditions in new countries, identity, the paradox of belonging both to a minority immigrant group and a majority religion, the social functions of rituals, attitudes to language, generational transfer, and marriage and family life, are all discussed.

Immigration is a topic that is as important among anthropologists as it is the general public. Almost every culture has experienced adaptation and assimilation when immigrating to a new country and culture; usually leaving for what is perceived as a "better life". Not only does this diaspora change the country of adoption, but also the country of origin. Many large nations in the world have absorbed, and continue to absorb, large numbers of immigrants. The foreseeable future will see a continuation of large-scale immigration, as many countries experience civil war and secessionist pressures. Currently, there is no reference work that describes the impact upon the immigrants and the immigrant societies relevant to the world's cultures and provides an overview of important topics in the world's diasporas. The encyclopedia consists of two volumes covering three main sections: Diaspora Overviews covers over 20 ethnic groups that have experienced voluntary or forced immigration. These essays discuss the history behind the social, economic, and political reasons for leaving the original countries, and the cultures in the new places; Topics discusses the impact and assimilation that the immigrant cultures experience in their adopted cultures, including the arts they bring, the struggles they face, and some of the cities that are in the forefront of receiving immigrant cultures; Diaspora Communities include over 60 portraits of specific diaspora communities. Each portrait follows a standard outline to facilitate comparisons. The Encyclopedia of Diasporas can be used both to gain a general understanding of immigration and immigrants, and to find out about particular cultures, topics and communities. It will prove of great value to researchers and students, curriculum developers, teachers, and government officials. It brings together the disciplines of anthropology, social studies, political studies, international studies, and immigrant and immigration studies.

This book examines Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka and provides insights on how Tamil nationalism has survived the destruction of the Tamil Tigers after May 2009 and continues to thrive, despite the absence of a charismatic leadership to lead it or a centralised organisation to mobilise the Tamils along ethnic nationalistic lines. The ethnic nationalist ideology shaped up by the Tamil Tigers continues to remain the driving force of the Tamil polity in Sri Lanka and the Diaspora. Using a Foucauldian counter-historical theoretical framework, the author analyses and offers answers to these questions: What is keeping Tamil nationalism alive despite the demise of the Tamil Tigers over a decade ago? Why do many Tamils in Sri Lanka and abroad refuse to accept a Sri Lankan political identity? How are Tamils able to continue on a nationalist path despite the absence of a unified political leadership? The book argues that Tamil nationalism has survived the latter’s destruction because it has become counter-historical. It is this that has allowed, despite the internecine rivalries between Tamil political parties and Diaspora groups, the Tamil nationalist spirit to remain alive. The author also suggests that counter-history has, for many Tamil political parties and Diaspora groups, become the means of waging war, other than through an armed struggle, against the Sri Lankan state. Based on field research, interviews and documentary analysis, the book provides empirical and unique insights on Foucault’s thesis that power is multifaceted and can function in the absence of centralised mechanisms. This book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of Politics and International Relations, in particular those working on ethnic nationalism, post-armed conflict peacebuilding/conflict resolution, the politics in Sri Lanka, diaspora politics and Foucault.

'The Fuglerud study is a prototype for any anthropologist or political scientist working on a politicised-radicalised Diaspora.' Ethnic Conflict Research Digest'This book about a recent immigrant group (Sri Lankan Tamils) in a European liberal democracy (Norway) is paradigmatic for how the anthropology of a displaced population ought to be done anywhere in the western world. ... Based on extensive field research in Norway and brief but insightful research in Sri Lanka, Life on the Outside is an elegant and effective blend of theory and ethnography. One of the very best in refugee studies to date.' E. Valentine Daniel, Columbia UniversityThis study of the Tamil diaspora is one of the first full ethnographic studies of a post-colonial migrant community, and a major contribution to the study of migration, globalisation, identity politics and 'long distance' nationalism from an anthropological perspective.Fuglerud's study traces the history of Tamil migration, from the arrival of the economic migrants of the 1960s to the 'asylum seekers' of the mid 1980s onwards. He draws unnerving parallels between the status of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, as a beleaguered and persecuted minority waging a war of liberation, and as a displaced, marginalised and excluded refugee community.Fuglerud argues that, in the process of displacement, particular aspects of Tamil culture - marriage, dowry, chastity and ritual - acquire a heightened significance. He examines the contradictions and inconsistencies which characterise the Tamil refugee communities, and the success of revolutionary Tamil nationalism in exile, highlighting the transnational nature of identity politics.