"Touring "Terrorism

Landscapes of Memory in Post-War Sri Lanka

Bibliographic Data

ID5697115
AuthorsJennifer Hyndman (0000-0002-1463-3170, York University, corresponding author), Amarnath Amarasingam (0000-0002-8125-1068, York University)
Year2014
Volume8
Issue8
Pages560-575
Publication date2014-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGeography Compass (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1749-8198 • E-ISSN: 1749-8198
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/gec3.12149
OpenAlexW1512347642
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited26

The Sri Lankan state's power to narrate the war and characterize the enemy is an expression of "triumphalist nationalism" and is a selective remembering of war. Based on photographs taken during several field visits to these sites by both authors between December 2012 and January 2014, we analyze the relationship of war and tourism and how a particular Sinhala nationalist remembering of the war and landscape of memory are being constructed in post-war Sri Lanka.Today, Sri Lanka is a former war zone where the Government's troops defeated the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers) and ended 26 years of violent conflict in May 2009. The end of the war came at a huge cost to civilian life in the northern part of the country; the UN estimates that over 40,000 people were killed, most of whom were Tamils who form the majority in Northern Sri Lanka. Despite the end of military conflict, war continues by other means, and its representation encapsulates a nationalist politics of victory that at once vilifies the defeated LTTE "terrorists" and excludes Northern Tamils from the Sri Lankan polis. The LTTE's former hideouts, training facilities, weapons, and vehicles are now tourist sites on display for public viewing

Adversary · Ancient history · Art · Development economics · Economic history · Geography · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · South asia · Spanish Civil War · Sri lanka · Tamil · Terrorism · Tourism · Victory · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Geographies of human-animal interactions · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration

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