Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Sri Lanka

Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Sri Lanka

The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Sri Lanka offers a comprehensive survey of issues facing the island country and an overview delineating some key moments in the country’s contemporary polity, economy, and sociality. This book outlines aspects and influences foundational to understanding a country defined by its economic and political turmoil, and rift with public distrust in today’s shifting geopolitics. Chapters by various established scholars highlight this book’s pivotal contribution in situating Sri Lanka’s turmoil and deprivation in this current conjuncture. The handbook is structured in seven parts: Nations and Nationalism - Politics, State and Institutions - Economy and Political Economy - Work and Life - Environment and Environmental Politics - Society, Social Systems, and Culture - Moment of Flux, Looking Ahead Each part includes on average six chapters covering the social sciences and humanities to survey emerging and cutting-edge areas of the study of Sri Lanka. Multi-disciplinary in focus, the book also includes an introductory section and concluding section, which creates the space and platform for senior, mid-ranking, and junior academics to engage in dynamic conversation with each other about contemporary Sri Lanka. Including scholarship from Sri Lankan experts, the handbook creates academic output, which chimes with broader calls in academia on decolonising the academic landscape. An important reference work, this handbook will be of interest to scholars and students from wideranging academic disciplines and a focus on Sri Lanka, Asian and South Asian studies, sociology, environmental politics, development, labour, management, political economy and anthropology. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. “Sri Lanka is at the cross-roads on many fronts. The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Sri Lanka comes at as a boon to researchers on these different fronts by identifying issues involved in the many problems that confront Sri Lanka. The problems of Sri Lanka reflect the conditions in many developing countries. It is befuddled with economic crises resulting from inability to service sovereign debts, unresolved ethnic crises fomented by chauvinist leaders, heavy corruption that depletes the national treasury, a political shift towards authoritarianism, environmental depletion, drug problems, pervasive criminal violence and other situations of social disruption. These different areas are covered by leading experts. This superbly written research handbook serves as a tool to study not only Sri Lanka but to compare its problems with other developing states with similar problems. It serves as an introduction to scholars new to the field and as a book that provides fresh insights into different aspects of social and economic life in the island to the established researchers. It will remain the best guide to research on aspects of socio-economic issues in Sri Lanka.” Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah, Emeritus Professor of Law, National University of Singapore “This excellent and important volume brings together a broad range of contemporary scholars in a hard-hitting, multi-disciplinary analysis of Sri Lanka’s current political and economic malaise. Thirty-five original chapters carefully and critically delineate the multiple factors which converged in the 2022 anti-government “struggle” (aragalaya) and its subsequent repression, and cautiously point the way forward to greater political, economic, social and environmental justice in Sri Lanka. This unique collection will be valuable to everyone who wants to understand Sri Lanka’s contemporary situation, and indispensable both to scholars who study it and to policy-makers who attempt to redress it.” Jonathan S. Walters, Professor of Religion and George Hudson Ball Endowed Chair of Humanities, Whitman College, USA “This is a valuable reference book on a country that defies easy readings. Sri Lanka is today in flux navigating political turmoil, environmental degradation, ethnic tensions, and economic hardships due to an unprecedented collapse of the economy. This volume of 35 essays and reflections captures this moment in all its unevenness, shedding light on the ambiguities that lace Sri Lankan society. The book moves from chapters dissecting nationalism, politics, and institutions to more specific topics on the economy and political economy, labour, environmental tensions and social and cultural formations. The contributions are sharp, well researched, theoretically informed and seamlessly connected. While different approaches and positions are represented, they share a commitment to an equitable, just, and ecologically sensitive country to be forged in the future. This is an inspiring volume and a reliable source for anyone interested in Sri Lanka today.” Nira Wickramasinghe, Chair and Prof