Narrativizing the unspeakable Rape and resistance in select works on the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict

Abstract

This thesis critically examines the narrative representations of rape withinthe context of the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict (1983–2009), focusing on three keyliterary texts: T. D. Ramakrishnan‘s Sugandhi Enna Andal Devanayaki (translatedby Priya K. Nair as Sugandhi Alias Andal Devanayaki), Nayomi Munaweera‘sIsland of a Thousand Mirrors, and Meena Kandasamy‘s the orders were to rapeyou: tigresses in the tamil eelam struggle. In the milieu of armed conflict, rapefunctions not merely as an expression of the perpetrator‘s sexual aggression but as abiopolitical instrument intended to degrade and dehumanise the ethnic Other byrendering women‘s bodies as ̳abject‘. As a woman‘s body, equated with the pride ofthe family and nation, invites shame to her man, family, and nation post-rape, thestate, through its army, engages in a war against women to take control of the ethnicOther. The state, through its military apparatus, employs systemic sexual violence asa strategy to assert dominance over the ethnic Other. Masculinity is constructedaround narratives of fearlessness and national protection, with military serviceframed as the pinnacle of male identity. This ideology fosters a social environmentwhere men are compelled to perform militarised masculinity, while women areburdened with maintaining sexual purity, lest they be reduced to socially impureexistences. The pervasive threat of sexual violence renders all women susceptible toa state of perpetual "pre-victimhood."The Sinhalese Tamil conflict ̳undeniably created a sexually riskyenvironment for women,‘ especially during the last phase of the war (2007-2009),where rape was used not only as a tool for punishing individuals belonging to theTamils but also as a method of extracting information about the Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE). While the Sri Lankan state used the discourse of femalesexuality to subjugate the Tamil populace, the LTTE also co-opted this narrative tofurther its own political agenda. The loss of belief in the judicial system, fear ofsocial stigmatisation, fear for security, desire to recoup honour, and an unendingthirst for revenge often drove rape survivors to align with the LTTE instead ofseeking legal redress. Through an analysis of the selected texts, this study exploresthe varied coping strategies adopted by female characters—ranging from silence,suicide, and joining the LTTE to becoming suicide bombers and choosing exile.However, these strategies rarely offer lasting relief or protection from trauma andoften result in further victimisation. Ultimately, the research highlights how both theGovernment and the LTTE exploit cultural constructs of female purity to advancetheir respective political objectives, leaving survivors trapped within cycles ofviolence and symbolic subjugation