Militarizing Sri Lanka: Popular Culture, Memory and Narrative in the Armed Conflict

“Neloufer de Mel's Militarizing Sri Lanka radically advances our understanding of the cultural consequences of violence. This tour de force should be read by all who want to understand the subtle effects of political violence on all aspects of culture, not only in Sri Lanka but elsewhere too.”

—Elisabeth Jean Wood, Professor of Political Science, Yale University

Militarizing Sri Lanka is a study of the militarization that has buttressed the war between the Sri Lankan state and the LTTE for over two decades. It highlights militarization as a process through which the ideology of militarism is shaped and shared in a manner that makes militant solutions to conflict a part of institutional structures and ways of thought. It foregrounds militarization as activity and agency, capable of adaptation ...