Programme
Nicole Wilson
Graduate Student
Department of Anthropology
Syracuse University
E/ nwilson@syr.edu
Women's Empowerment Through Nationalist Discourse: A Comparative Study of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil Nationalism
In a review article, Jonathan Spencer, a scholar of Sri Lankan nationalism, has remarked, “Comparison with the differing styles and fortunes of Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka and India is long overdue…” (Spencer 1995:365). The following paper focuses on this topic with specific respect to feminine gender constructions of power within Tamil nationalism. It looks at the similarities and differences between Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil nationalism as it is specifically represented and inscribed on the bodies and identities of Tamil women, both in places of hierarchical significance within Tamil nationalist regimes, and also within sites of subordination to patriarchal “norms.” While sites for women’s empowerment constitute merely one element when looking at Tamil nationalism, this paper argues that understanding these “pieces” holds particular significance. It will show that while both Indian and Sri Lankan Tamil nationalism have chosen the female body as a symbol for their respective discourses, how they construct this body, and thereby alter this symbol is a context-specific action. Considering specific gender constructions created and employed by Tamil nationalist discourses provides insight into individual women’s identities within the diversity of south Asia.
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Ms. Wilson is a doctoral student whose primary research interests include
constructions of female Tamil identity through politics and urban Hindu
religious practice in the city of Madurai, Tamilnadu. She is also the author of
“Modernization of Hijras” published in the Maxwell Review (2006).