Sri Lanka
Shrines for Monsters
A veteran war correspondent reflects on the afterlife of photographs — and how they become fodder for conferences and fellowships while their subjects recede into oblivion.
The Limits of Literature
As new mass graves are exhumed in Sri Lanka, a journalist who spent years embedded with the Tamil Tigers surveys the works dealing with the country’s civil war and asks whether, between myth and memory, fiction and nonfiction, a narrative can ever be complete.
Sri Lanka’s War Widows Are Clearing Its Land of Mines
Sri Lanka’s devastating civil war left an estimated 89,000 widows as their families’ sole breadwinners. But this need to keep going in the face of injury, displacement and loss has resulted in opportunities, including the land mine clearance that provides a livelihood to many.
As Tourism Surges in Sri Lanka, Locals Are Asking Who Truly Benefits
While Sri Lanka aims to attract millions of tourists to boost its economy, concerns are rising about tourism’s impact on local communities — from the displacement of local businesses by those catering to outsiders, to the exploitation of local resources and the segregation of spaces to make them exclusive to foreigners.
In Sri Lanka, the Army Is Engaging in a New War on Drugs
Extrajudicial executions, police raids on low-income neighborhoods, media demonization of addicts and court-mandated rehabilitation at army-run centers have raised concerns about the criminalization of substance abuse in Sri Lanka.
Why Short Eats Are an Emblem of Sri Lankan Identity
In Sri Lanka, short eats can be had at all times and for all meals. You can find them by the beach and on busy roads, at birthday parties and high teas. They bind communities together, hold stories of the nation’s centuries-long history and have emerged as a symbol of the Sri Lankan identity.
Sri Lanka’s Uncomfortable Relationship With Its Disappeared
Over three decades, more than 30 mass graves have been found in Sri Lanka, believed to be of those who disappeared during the civil war and armed communist rebellions. But efforts to uncover the truth are continually obstructed by the authorities, making families — seeking closure — live and die without answers.