Life on the Outside: The Tamil Diaspora and Long-Distance Nationalism (Anthropology, Culture, and Society)

This text traces the history of Tamil migration, from the economic migrants of the 1960s onwards. The author draws unnerving parallels between the status of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, as a persecuted minority waging a war of liberation, and the migrant community in Norway as a displaced, marginalized and excluded refugee community, with only tenuous links to the "host country" and a fierce but often contradictory attachment to revolutionary politics and to Tamil customs and rituals. The text argues that in the process of displacement, aspects of Tamil culture, such as marriage, dowry, chastity and ritual, acquire a heightened significance: tradition in exile is bound up in the violent struggle for independence in Sri Lanka. The contradictions which characterise the Tamil refugee communities, and the success of revolutionary Tamil nationalism in exile, highlight the transnational nature of identity politics and demonstrate why the attempts by the state to integrate these communities are perhaps likely to end in failure. For the Tamils, displacement is not so much a question of geography as a state of mind. 'The Fuglerud study is a prototype for any anthropologist or political scientist working on a politicised-radicalised Diaspora.' Ethnic Conflict Research Digest' This book about a recent immigrant group (Sri Lankan Tamils) in a European liberal democracy (Norway) is paradigmatic for how the anthropology of a displaced population ought to be done anywhere in the western world. ... Based on extensive field research in Norway and brief but insightful research in Sri Lanka, Life on the Outside is an elegant and effective blend of theory and ethnography. One of the very best in refugee studies to date.' E. Valentine Daniel, Columbia University This study of the Tamil diaspora is one of the first full ethnographic studies of a post-colonial migrant community, and a major contribution to the study of migration, globalisation, identity politics and 'long distance' nationalism from an anthropological perspective. Fuglerud's study traces the history of Tamil migration, from the arrival of the economic migrants of the 1960's to the 'asylum seekers' of the mid 1980's onwards. He draws unnerving parallels between the status of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, as a beleaguered and persecuted minority waging a war of liberation, and as a displaced, marginalised and excluded refugee community. Fuglerud argues that, in the process of displacement, particular aspects of Tamil culture - marriage, dowry, chastity and ritual - acquire a heightened significance. He examines the contradictions and inconsistencies which characterise the Tamil refugee communities, and the success of revolutionary Tamil nationalism in exile, highlighting the transnational nature of identity politics An ethnographic study of a postcolonial migrant community, looking at diasporas and migration, globalisation, identity and nationalism Øivind Fuglerud. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 189-198) And Index.