Year: | 2003 | |
Short description: | Devotta's 'Ethnolinguistic Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka' | |
Medium description: | Neil Devotta's 'Ethnolinguistic Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka' argues that "the Sinhala-Only Movement and the Sinhala-Only Act of 1956 were the catalysts for most of the antiminority policies that followed" (p. 106). Discusses: the ethnic makeup of Sri Lanka pre and post independence; the origins of the Swabasha (self-language) Movement and the position of English pre-1956; the background to the 1956 Act; and the after effects of the Act on Sri Lanka. Notes that although only a small % of the population was literate in English, English was a requirement for most state sector employment and as a result of "[t]he excellent English education system ... in the country's northern [Tamil] regions" Tamils were able to secure a higher % of such jobs than their representataion in the population. As a result, he suggests, the movement to replace English as the offficial language was not generally supported by the Tamil elite. | |
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