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Beyond ‘Benign’ and ‘Fascist’ Nationalisms: Interrogating the Historiography of Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism

The simmering ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and the militant Tamil nationalism associated with it have attracted a great deal of interest to the subject of Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism. This has generated a growing body of literature, both scholarly and otherwise, on various aspects of Tamil nationalism and militancy. Surprisingly, there has been little attempt so far to take stock or critically assess the achievements of this body of work. The objective of the present discussion is to reflect critically on this body of scholarship—to observe its major trends and orientations and perhaps, more importantly, to pin-point areas of neglect and areas that need further enquiry. Keeping this goal in mind, the paper subscribes to a broad definition of Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism both in terms of its nature and chronology, and critically surveys the scholarship that traces its inception from around the mid nineteenth century to its more recent militant manifestation. It does not however by any means attempt to provide a comprehensive survey. Rather it seeks to focus on the dominant trends in this scholarship, particularly that dealing with the more militant phase of Tamil nationalism.