Chapter One Introduction - Shodhgangashodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/18136/8/08_chapter 1.pdf · long established 'chena cultivation' (shifting or swidden cultivation)

Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Background

The principal objective of this study is to examine the process of social change in rural

Sri Lanka since the 1930s with special focus on the contemporary period. The study has

a clear historical perspective. However, the study of the contemporary period is based

primarily on an ethnographic study of a dry zone village, 'Kurulubedde,' situated in

Northwestern Sri Lanka. The study proceeds with the idea that state policies whether

enacting from the colonial administrator or from the benevolent distributor of post

colonial Sri Lankan state have played a major role in the socio-political and economic

developments that have taken place at the village level. However, the ability of the state

to pursue with the role of benevolent distributor has over time become limited. State

policies themselves have changed over time with its own set of implications which this

study seeks to examine.

Sri Lanka is a small, tropical island which is situated close to the southeast cost of the

Indian subcontinent. Until 1972, it was called 'Ceylon,' an anglicized name that

changed to 'Sri Lanka' under the republican constitution of the same year. The country

can be divided into three major agro-ecological zones: dry, wet and intermediate. The

southwestern, western, and major parts of central highland areas constitute the wet and

intermediate zone. The rest of the island belongs to the dry zone. Perennial exposure of

island to warm maritime air masses results in the prevalence of high humidity over the

island at most time of the year (varies within the narrow range of 80 to 85 percent)

(Peiris, 1996). In 2004, the entire population in Sri Lanka was 19.15 million. The ethnic

composition of the population comprises 74% Sinhalese, 12.7% Tamils, 7.05% Moors,

5.5% Sri Lankan Tamils, and 0.8% others (others refers to people of Burgher or

Eurasian, Malays or Chinese origin, Vaddiis or Sri Lankan aborigines and a small

number of various other permanent residents). The religious diversity of the country

stands at 69.3% Buddhist, 15.3% Hindus, 7.6% Islamic, 7.5% Christians and 0.3 others

(others refers to small groups of people who follow different religious sects). According

to the rural-urban population divide, 77% of the population is living in rural areas

(Central Bank Annual Report 2006). There are more than 20,000 villages in the country

(Wijesekara 1990). Sri Lanka, therefore, could be described primarily as a rural society.

Sri Lanka has often been described as an exceptional case in the developing world in

terms of its high-level human development record which is similar to some developed

countries (Sen, 2004; Austin, 1994). The rational behind this exceptional dimension of

human development of the country can be considered mainly as the integral

consequence of state intervention to uplift its population under the distributive welfare

mechanism which included distribution of lands, free education, extensive health care

schemes, state subsidies on food and other necessities. Most of these welfare

distribution schemes started in the mid 1930s. Enactment of these social legislations

was a direct result of political transformations that were introduced in 1931. From that

point, Sri Lankan state has played a paternalistic role as a provider and distributor of its

resources for its subjects. After independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has allocated a

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considerable amoWlt of its revenue as welfare expenditure. Each successive government

has paid much attention to welfare distributions that impacted the social, economic and

political life of the country. However, before I proceed with the arguments of this

thesis, it is necessary to summarize the changing political, economic and social history

of the country up to the first decades of twentieth century. This is the context within

which the changes initiated can be appreciated.

1. 2 The changing history of Sri Lanka from the colonial period

As the existing evidence show, early development of the island began in the dry zone

where the ruling system had been monarchical. However, by sixteenth century, the

center of power of the island had gradually transferred to the wet zone due to the

protracted South Indian invasions. In 1505 AD, Western Europeans, firstly Portuguese,

· made their first appearance and they conquered the coastal areas of the island. In 1658

AD, the Dutch ousted the Portuguese and they consolidated their power in coastal areas

until British exiled them in 1796 AD. By far the greatest European influence on the

country came in the century and a half period of British rule. They had consolidated

their power aU over the coWltry by 1815 and it ended only in 1948. The establishment

of the British rule in the Kandyan region in 1815 marked the end of a long-lived

monarchical political system of the island and the beginning of a new system inclusive

of novel social, economic, political and cultural characteristics.

Nearly three centuries of Portuguese and Dutch occupation of the island had made a

major socio-economic influence on the coastal areas, particularly on the Western coastal

belt. However, their influence on interior areas of the country made only a marginal and

3

limited impact Nevertheless, the influence of the British colonial masters on the entire

island was immense. With its control of the whole island since 1815, British colonial

masters paid particular attention to fmding ways to make the colony profitable. In that

sense, the policies of the crown government strongly influenced the promotion of the

plantation economy in the country. These measures of British colonials affected the

major social, economic and political transformations in the entire island.

The growt.ll of plantation agriculture under the British colonial rule was a major point

for the establishment of capitalist mode of production in the country. The development

of plantation agriculture increased the demand for lands. However, sales and tenure of

lands were jeopardized and challenged by natives' claims and encroachments on the

lands. Hence, from 1840s, British colonial government introduced a new land policy

mainly intendi~g to control the land of the country. And, "this policy necessarily

entailed the transfer of land from the traditional bases to new elements" (Samaraweera,

1981: 130). The Crown Land Encroachment Ordinance No. 12 of 1840 was the

beginning of this land policy. The ordinance declared all the forest land of the country

as Crown property. "The fundamental and inter-related objectives of this piece of

legislation were to provide security of tenure and to protect Crown forests from

encroachment and claims, and by these means to establish a suitable foundation for

agricultural improvement, so as to attract foreign capital and permit the Crown to sell

forest land to prospective planters" (Roberts, 1973: 122). Although this enactment was

suitable for the development of plantation economy, it was not pleasant for the natives

who used those lands for their livelihoods. Apart from this, the British passed

Ordinance No. 05 of I 866 for the purpose of confiscation and sale of land that belonged

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to defaulted grain-taxpayers. This ordinance had a disastrous impact on the rural

peasants who failed to pay the grain tax. Further, the rapid development of commercial

plantation agriculture too increased the demand for lands. Therefore, the colonial

government enacted the Ordinance No. I of 1897, "An Ordinance related to claims to

forest, chena, waste and unoccupied lands" (Roberts, 1973: 130). With this enactment,

the colonial government declared all the forest land, waste land, and uncultivated land

even in the close vicinities of villages to be Crown property, unless the ownership of

those lands was confirmed by clear documentary proofs. Although some noble families

and the temples had documents for royal grants of lands in their possession, the

peasantry at large found it difficult to prove their claims to forest, waste and other lands,

which they were using since generations for their subsistence livelihoods (Gunasinghe,

1990: 47). After that, these lands were sold for commercial plantation. 1

1.2.1 Influen~e of the ~hanges on native ~ommunities

With the establishment of the new political economy under the British, certain groups of

native people, mostly from the Western and Southern coastal districts, benefited. With

the expansion of the plantation economy, opportunities for capital accumulation had

been opened up for enterprising individuals of the local society also. Below the landed

capitalist elite, there was an expanding array of social strata mostly from the above

mentioned Western and Southern coastal districts who had made their fortunes through

• utility services, i.e. through avenues like clearing forests for plantations, putting up

buildings, providing building materials, supplying groups of workers on contract basis,

wholesale and retail trade, arrack renting and etc. The expansion of English education,

particularly through Christian missionary schools enabled their second generation to

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rise above their traditional social background, and many of the modern indigenous

intelligentsia that had been active in the early twentieth century had been drawn from .

these groups. As these populations of Western and Southern costal belt had experienced

the colonial socio-economic structure for three centuries, they were able to access those

new opportunities which opened with the colonial social economic transformation

(Jayawardena, 2000; Uyangoda, 1998a; Ivan, 1990; Roberts, 1982, 1979).

These new social and economic transform_ations were not favourable for the majority of

rural population wlio lived in the interior areas of the country? Those lands that had

been acquired for the commercial plantation had been utilized by rural communities for

long established 'chena cultivation' (shifting or swidden cultivation) for major part of

rural subsistence agricultural systems, and cattle feedings. 3 "British colonial rulers of

Sri Lanka established effective state .control of-virtually all land not regularly cultivated,

and severely restricted the access of the peasant population for those lands. The law no

longer permitted groups of men to just carve out new villages for themselves from the

jungle" (Moore and Perera, 1978: 39). On the other hand, as these rural masses had

lived in interior areas, they did not have enough experience of new socio-economic

transformations. Application of grain tax system in 1866 was also destructive. The

peasantry at large lost their paddy lands due to default of grain tax.4 In this context of

colonial regime, rural communities were forced to cultivate small fragmented paddy and

high lands, or live as sharecroppers under the traditional high caste landowners.

This scenario had caused severe socio-economic problems among the interior rural

communities in the country. In the beginning of twentieth century, some district level

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British administrative officers themselves and other writers had pointed out the plight of

the peasants of peripheral areas of the country (Wolf, 1913 [2003]; 1983 [1963). But,

"The existing evidence seemed to indicate that British policies, in the nineteenth

century, had made little or no impression on the mass poverty of the rural areas. In the

early twentieth century, investigations conducted by several official committees of the

government ... brought to light particular aspect of the poverty of the peasantry ... "

(Samaraweera, 1973: 446). This can be attributed to the fact that 'welfare' was not the

operative term where the colonized were concerned under the colonial governmental

policy (Sharma and Gupta, 2006: 25). As a result of these conditions, by the first

decades of twentieth century, poverty, indebtedness, landlessness and unemployment

became intrinsic features of the population in interior tural areas of the country. In the

beginning of 1930, C.V. Brayne, an imaginative colonial official, pointed out, ''the

standard of living of the peasant is low, his existence is often precarious, he is not

seldom deeply and chronically in debt, and his wage earning capacity, if he is forced to

sell his labour, is poor'' (1934: 35; quoted from Samraweera, 1973: 447).

According to a survey conducted by P .B. Das Gupta (1939) in eight rural districts, in

the beginning of 1930, 21% per cent of rural families was landless and 30% per cent of

rural community bad less than one acre. And, 33% per cent of rural population suffered

from indebtedness (quoted from Dharmasena & Karunarathna 1993). On the other hand,

devastating epidemics like 'ma)aria' was inherent to the interior rural areas. Due to this

situation, "the surviving rural population became so enfeebled by anemia and

malnutrition that people could scarcely maintain themselves even at a subsistence level"

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(Bjorkman, 1985: 542). This was the state of rural community that represented the

majority of the population during the first decades of twentieth century.

1.2.2 Changing policies of the state

It is in this context that there were public debates on the condition of peasantry in late

nineteenth and early twentieth century. Particularly, in the beginning of twentieth

century, the new political elites, who were demanding political reforms, were concerned

with the condition of rural peasantry. Thus '1he reformist and nationalist -leaders carried

on a much-publicized campaign of bringing the problems of the peasantry before the

public and government. Though the primary concern of the nationalist leaders was a

constitutional advance, there was an increasing realization that political development

had necessarily to be accompanied by improvement in the well-being of the people"

(Samaraweera, 1973: 446), More radical Ceylonese nationalist leaders were also

motivated by a belief that it was primarily the responsibility of the state to take these

problems into consideration.

The year 1931 was a turning point for the drastic social, economic, and political

transformation in the island in coming years. Two equally important constitutional

reforms were implemented in the country under the Donoughmore political reforms in

1931. First was the introduction of universal adult franchise for citizens over 21 years of

age; one of Asia's earliest experiments with,universal franchise;5 the second was the

introduction of a new constitution, partly modeled on the structure of a semi­

autonomous parliamentary system, publicly known as 'State Council,' with

constituency-based election system of representation based on universal adult suffiage.

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This political innovation simply made up the political crucible of mass politicking on

elected politicians; and, therefore, those elite politicians who were ambitious with

national politics at that time had to adjust to a new form of mass politics with a view to

stabilizing their political existence among the masses. In this context, although colonial

authorities were not ready to invest in social amelioration programs, local politicians

were ambitious in such programs. Hence, this was the inception of the implementation

of extensive welfare services for the socio-economic upliftment of the masses.

According to Moor (1985: 226), this situation paved the way for the construction of a

welfare state in Sri Lanka after independence along the British model.

1.3 Studies on social change in rural Sri Lanka

Studies on Sri Lankan rural society are varied. In general, after the independence,

foreign and Sri Lankan scholars have studied the changing nature of Sri Lankan rural

society under different themes ranging from caste, kinship, marriage, land tenure,

religion, ritual to nationalism, political violence etc. (Karunathilake, 2004: 5-12; Nissan,

1987: 1-25). The impact of the state policies for distributing its resources to uplift the

life conditions of Sri Lankan masses has been mostly the subject of a large number of

scholarly articles, edited books etc.6 In particular, there are ethnographic studies which

have focused on the different aspects of changes of rural society of the country resulting

from political transformation and distributive welfare policies of the state. Among these ,

studies, Robinson (1975), Perera (1985), and Spencer (2000 (1990]) are particular. They

have followed detailed field investigations in relation to the higher degree of political

participation and politicization of rural society of the country. Viewed from this

perspective, the use of this theme is not of course entirely new.

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Among these studies, the anthropological monograph of Marguerite S. Robinson

(1975), 'Political Structure in a Changing Sinhalese village' that was based on two

fieldworks in the beginning and end of 1960s, and bas focused on the nature of political

changes is of considerable significance. It looked particularly at political competition

within the village in the Kandyan highlands of Sri Lanka during the political transition

between the westernized United National Party and Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1956

and after. As Robinson argued, the changing nature of political and administrative

policies of post independent governments began to have noticeable effects in her village

by mid 1963, towards the end ofher first field trip there. When she returned in 1967, the

political structure of the village had undergone fundamental changes, and consequently,

incipient forms of a new political structure were discernible. When she went there in

1972 for a few days, she found that a number of youths of the village had actively

participated in the unsuccessful Marxist youth insurrection of 1971 led by the Janatha

Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front) or better known as the NP. According

to Robinson, the villagers were rapidly becoming integrated into the regional political

structure. The youths of the village had only begun to fight against the dominance of the

major political parties in the village level (1975: 281). Perera (1985), in his study based

on fieldwork in two villages of Central and North central province in 1978, has

examined the changing nature of rural level social stratification when successive

governments, particularly after 1956, attempted to empower the rural society in Sri

Lanka through several policy reforms. While pointing out· the emergence of new

dimensions of social stratification in the rural level resulting from the influence of state

and politics, he showed that this situation had led to a confrontational atmosphere.

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Although Sri Lanka achieved outstanding social development during past decades, the

country began to experience increasing tension, conflicts, and violence at both macro

and micro level by the beginning of 1970s. This was popularly marked with abortive

youth insurrection against the state in 1971 led by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (NP).

The NP led another abortive military effort to capture the state power during 1987-89

that caused heavy damage to human lives and economy of the country during that

period. The long-run tragedy of post colonial Sri Lanka marked with the eruption of

North-Eastern ethnic war. It came out in 1983 with the anti-Tamil violence in Sinhala

dominated areas in the country. Since that point, the ethnic war caused heavy damage to

all section of the country. This confrontational situation of the country influenced the

ethnographic academic tradition of Sri Lanka considerably. The most interesting

example in this regard can be seen with Jonathan Spencer's ethnographic study on the

life and politics in rural Sri Lanka (Spencer, 2000 [ 1990]). Spencer's investigation was

based on two related phenomena which lie beneath the growing crisis of Sri Lanka's

democratic institutions, particularly in the beginning of 1980s; the high degree of

political participation in rural areas and the tenacious hold of Sinhala Buddhist

nationalism among the country's majority population, Sinhalese. In this study that was

based on fieldwork in early 1980s, Spencer has chosen to range over a superficially

broader set of topics to analyze material and cultural change which has taken place in

the rural level under the influence of the state. According him, the compelling account

of village politics in the early 1980 was complemented by a description of village

Buddhism and the attempted re-creation of a local sense of community through the

rituals and symbols of Buddhist nationalism, while party politics was, to a certain

11

extent, a continuation of much older pattern which can be discerned in local relations in

colonial and pre-colonial state.7

1.4 The argument of this study

A central argument of this study that political reforms of 1931 has been the turning

point in the state policies that brought for reaching changes in rural Sri Lanka. The

establishment of the state council and the introduction of universal franchise

amalgamated the country with modem political institutions. Local political leaders who

were elected to the state council from the electoral constituencies by the masses

implemented different state distributive mechanisms; for instance distribution of state

lands to landless population, food subsidies and other welfare activities with a clear

focus on the general public

However, there was no widespread political party system in the country until 1946.

Although some Marxist political parties have been in existence since mid 1930s, those

parties did not have a countrywide representation. However, through those state

oriented distributive mechanisms and welfare schemes, politicians who headed those

welfare schemes developed a strong political foundation for themselves and gained

reputation among the people (Jayantha, 1992; Wriggins, 1960) Since independence in

1948, state welfarism and distributive justice became the major tenets of state policy for

every successive government This dimension was fortified by relative economic

prosperity which Sri Lanka had by independence. The biggest increase in electoral

turnout in Sri Lanka was attributed to the consequences of the rapid spread of state

welfare activities. Therefore, state distribution to the masses became a meta-agenda for

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political competition among every political party (Moor, 1985: 219). Consequently,

political parties that came to power after independence established grassroots level

organizational structure for the distribution of state resources. However, country's

economic prosperity and other resources did not last more than a decade after

independence. As a result, continuation of the extensive distributive welfare system

became increasingly onerous in the face of declining capacity of resources in the

country. On the other hand, by this time, post-independent governments and the masses

were obsessed with the welfare distributive politics. The argument of this study

develops within this context.

The effort in this thesis is to try and map the nature of the changes in the rural Sri

Lanka. Accordingly, instead of selecting broader set of areas of rural changes, this study

is concerned with an intensive examination of the changes of a dry zone village in

Northwestern province in Sri Lanka under the influence of the changing nature of state

policies, political transformations, particularly the development of electoral allegiance.

The study area differs from above-mentioned studies in various ecological, economic

and social respects and has a different history until early decades of twentieth century.

By 1942, Kurulubedde was a small village that bore the brunt of harsh climate,

deceases, desertion of settlements, and negligence by the state etc. Since the beginning

of 1940s, the village lavishly received state welfare distributions that led to changes in

the village including dramatic population enhancement and increasing political

participation. At the same time, political parties which came to power after

independence established an organizational structure for the distribution of state

resources which gradually led to the depletion of those resources. Political relations

13

have become the major source of obtaining exhausting state resources and creating

political networks based on access to and control of state resources and s,tate institutions

in the village level. This study intensively focuses on the dynamics in the village within

this conteX4 particularly, the legitimization and institutionalization of fractional

distribution of the state resources in a remote dry zone village within a vibrant electoral

life.

The significance of the present study also rests on another ground. All the_ above­

mentioned studies have been completed before mid 1980s. However, in several ways,

1980s and 1990s was a very important period of social change of Sri Lankan rural

society due to the changing nature of the politics and state policies on distributive

mechanism. Since the end of 1970s, state policies themselves have been revised with a

view to accepting neo-liberal economic policies that included the privatization of ~e

state entities, dispersal of the state's governance and reduction of redistributive

functions and welfare expenditure. Therefore, competition for gaining limited state

resources intensified in the face of increasing demand, particularly in rural areas. In this

context, significance of politics in approaching limited state resources enhanced

extensively and systematically. Thus, since 1980s, conflicts in the Sri Lankan rural

society which have been based on intra-village political polarization have increased.

This situation could be seen particularly during the election time. A common

phenomenon that can be witnessed after 1980s is• the association of violence and

intimidation with elections that often destroyed the tranquility of the rural areas. In this

context, contrary to Spencer who argued that the tranquility of village was restored with

the passing of time after the elections (2000 [1990]: 181), evidence from my fieldwork

14

shows that the normality at the village level does not easily return with the passage of

time. Intra-village political conflicts, violence and intimidation that emanate from

competition for the rapidly diminishing state benefits, have become a frequent and

protracted process in the village.

Within this context I have developed my core argument in this thesis as follows:

considerable socio-economic changes that were based on state oriented distributive

welfare mechanism have taken place in rural society of Sri Lanka But, su\:)sequently,

these changes have been reinforced by a creation of a national system of patronage in

which the political parties, the state and the rural masses are closely linked in an

organizational and institutional manner. And, when the potential of the state to

implement these distributive welfare mechanisms itself is limited and the state policies

themselves have changed over time to reduce its welfare distribution, I argue that_ sharp

competitions have emerged among the rural masses in order to gain limited benefits

from the state. These competitions in the rural areas have given rise to a tide of

incessant violence and intimidation in contemporary rural society in Sri Lanka

1.4.1 Scope of the study

Within this context, the purpose of this study is to examine the social changes that have

occurred in the rural Sri Lanka as the benevolent state intervention took place with the

objective of empowering the rural communities. As discussed above, the introduction of • universal franchise in 1931 and spread of electoral political system was the turning

point for those benevolent state interventions. After independence in 1 948, as I pointed

out, state distribution and welfarism has become the meta-agenda of the political parties

15

and successive governments. Accordingly, the study considers the political facts of

social change, particularly political implication of state-society relations.

According to Barry et al, "politics has itself to be investigated genealogically, in terms

of the ways of coding and defining or delimiting the possible scope of action and

components of an apparatus of rule, the strategies and the limits proper for rulers, and

the relations between political rule and that exercised by other authorities" (2005

[1995]: 279). In this context, my analysis in this study deals with t!te outstanding

changes of in a dry zone Sri Lankan village that have occurred since 1930s under the

welfare-oriented political system. However, considerable attention has been paid to the

period prior to 1930s also with a view to understanding the changing role of the state

through a comparison of the present and the past. An intensive ethnographic

investigation has dealt with the way of institutionalization of distributive me~hanism of

the state within the context of development of party political lines and gradual

exhaustion of the resource base of the state. The study focuses on the emergence of

intra-village political polarization and conflict which has been based on sharp

competitions to gain limited benefits from the state. The study includes a detailed

analysis of existing intra-village political conflicts which are deeply enmeshed with

violence and intimidation.

As I pointed out above, while outstanding social developments were happening in Sri

Lanka, there has been an unfortunate shift from quietude to crisis. This situation has

been particularly marked by the long-run North-East ethnic conflict as well as two

events of Southern youth insurrections. But, my analysis here does not focus on the

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larger contemporary confrontational atmosphere of Sri Lankan society, particularly the

ethnic issue. Rather, my focus here is to analyze those contemporary confrontational

situations in the village level or, more elaborately, to analyze confrontational political

implication of state-society relations in micro level. Even the analysis of implication of

abortive Southern youth insurrection for the village (during 1987-89) will be focused in

this manner.

1.4.2 Objectives of the study

The study consists of following objectives:

(a) To identify the outstanding features of the changes of rural society in Sri Lanka

since 1930 from a historical and holistic perspective.

(b) To investigate the way of politicization of state distribution in rural Sri Lanka

within the context of gradual exhaustion of the capacity of the state to continue

its welfare expenditures.

(c) To examine the way national and local level political structures operate to

distribute and handle state benefits in contemporary rural Sri Lanka, and the way

emerging conflicts appear among the politically motivated villagers to acquire

different benefits in the rural areas.

(d) To analyze the influence of politicization of state activities on modernization,

development and social change in rural areas.

1.4.3 Research questions

The following research questions were formulated to address the arguments and

objectives of this study:

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(a) How has rural society in Sri Lanka changed since 1930s under the influence of

politically motivated distributive welfare mechanism of the state?

b) What has been the nature of actual interrelationship created among the state,

politics and rural masses within these changing processes?

c) What has been the pace of the fonnation of rural level political mechanism

which developed within this changing process?

d) How can the contemporary intra-village political polarization and conflicts be

explained within the context of the process of social change in Sri ~anka?

1.5 Research area of the study

As stated in the beginning of the chapter, this study is primarily based on an

ethnographic study of a dry zone Sri Lankan village. Ethnographic fieldwork was

carried out from February to July in 2006, and February to March in 2Q07. The

concerned research area for this study, "Kurulubedde," is a dry zone village which

belongs to Pallepitiye Divisional Secretariat Division (DSD), Puttalam district,

Northwestern province of Sri Lanka Historically, Puttalam district has a particular

significance as this area identified as the place where the first recorded civilization of

the country started. But, by 1950s, a greater part of the Puttalam district was covered

with forests. Since 1950s, a good deal of attention has been given to agricultural

development of the district. In the Census of 1901, the district had a population of

104;197. In 1953 it was 228,892 (Census of Ceylon 1953). In 2001 Census, Puttalam

district records a population of 492,533. The area of the district is 3,072 square km in

extent. By 2001, the density of population of the district reached 245 per a square km.

90.6% of the total population of the province belongs to the rural sector (Census of Sri

18

Lanka, 2001).8 In general, majority of the population in interior parts of Puttalam

district depends on agriculture while the population of costal belt of the district mainly

depends on fishing.

Kurulubedde claims to own the double status of both a new settlement as well as a

revitalized settlement on an old foundation. Therefore, the population of village

comprises the people with a history of local settlements and ancestral origin. The

majority, however, are migrants who have come under a state sponsored land

distribution program, and under the self-performed inter-rural migration. The

population belongs to different castes and religions which will be discussed in the

forthcoming chapters.

1.5.1 Methodology of the study

The word 'methodology' "is sometimes used to refer to the methods and general

approach to empirical research of a particular discipline, or even a particular large

study, although the term 'research techniques' is perhaps more apt in this context"

(Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, 2005: 412). but, "methodology' can be distinguished

from research 'techniques' and that latter term is useful for referring to the pragmatics

of primary data collection, whereas methodology denotes the 'logic-in-use' involved in

selecting particular observational techniques, assessing their yield of data, and relating

these data to theoretical propositions, In practice, the practical problems of using

particular techniques of data gathering cannot be entirely separated from the

examination of their logic in use" (Pelto and Pelto, 1978: 3). In that sense, the word

'methodology' is concerned with how researchers go about their work, how they

19

conduct investigations and appraise evidence, how they decide what is true and false

etc.

As briefly pointed out above, Kurulubedde is a village revitalized on its old foundation

keeping old villagers as well as new settlers under the distributive welfare mechanism

of the state. From this perspective, the study is a descriptive analysis on the formation

of new social identities among the villagers, new social relationships among the people

of different identities, new perceptions of the villagers on the state _and politics,

interdependence between the villagers and larger political system (including state,

government and political parties), creation of new political identities and their influence

on the village which have been developed within these changing processes. Majority of

these objectives cannot be comprehended and explained by using statistical methods.

The study specifically considers the development of confrontational political_ relations

among the villagers, the contemporary inter-village conflicts, violence and intimidations

that I argue are the products of the changes that the village has undergone. A

quantitative data collection method like social survey has restricted explanatory .

prospects in such situations.

Ethnographic research was thus preferred for this study as it has the potential for

generating in-depth qualitative data. "Ethnography literally means a description of a

people" (Angrosino, 2007: 1). With a range of research techniques including participant

observation, in-depth interviews, case studies and some times simple enumerations,

ethnography allows researchers' access to the particular social groups to obtain real

experiences on their past and present way of life, daily activities that generate deep

20

insights about them which are necessary to explain the relationship between various

variables (Crang and Cook, 2007; McNeill and Champman, 2005; Taylor, 2002).

Ethnography has deep roots in anthropology. The object of study of anthropology is

numerically small and simple societies. However, the state and its apparatus seemed

distant from the ethnographic practices and methods because its size is not directly

amenable to study by the ethnographic methods (with the question of epistemological

status of the object of analysis, appropriate mode of gathering ~ relevant scale of

analysis etc.). Nevertheless, language and -the concept of state have often haunted

anthropology for a long time (Gupta, 2006 [1995]: 212; Das and Poole, 2004: 4-5). In

particular, South Asia has a rich ethnographic tradition that speaks about different

aspects of state such as administrative rationality, political order, authority etc as well as

their impact on the everyday lives of people during the post coloni~ era and even

during the neo-liberal transnational moment of the state.9 Ethnography, as a mode, is a

powerful tool in perceiving social reality when compared to more formal protocols used

by many other disciplines. It offers a unique perspective on the type of practices of the

state and its apparatus on the everyday lives of both rural and urban people (Das and

Poole, 2004: 4; Fuller and Harries, 2000: 11).

There are two perspectives to the empirical field investigation on social phenomenon,

'ernie; and 'etic' perspectives. The 'ernie' perspective which is called as insider's or •

native's perspectives of reality is considered as the heart of most ethnographic research,

as it is considered instrumental to understand and accurately describe situations and

behaviors. As marked by Fetterman, in contrast to a priori assumptions about how a

T.t-r- 16 7 J~ 21

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system works from a simple, linear, logical perspective, 'ernie' perspective compels the

recognition and acceptance of multiple realities that are crucial to an understanding of

why people think and act in the different ways that they do (Fetterman, 1998). Further,

Fetterman pointed out that ''Native perceptions may not conform to an 'objective'

reality, but they help the fieldworker understand why members of the social group do

what they do" (ibid: 20). On the contrary, without paying much attention to the

perceived views and concepts of the people who are going to be studied, the 'etic'

-perspective approaches the phenomenon wi~ the help of concepts, propositions, models

and theories. Therefore, "an etic perspective is the external, social scientific perspective

on reality" (ibid: 22).

However, in this study, both 'ernie' and 'etic' perspectives are used as a combined

perspective so as to gain a better understanding of the changing pr~ess in rural Sri

Lanka. "The ethnographer is both storyteller and scientist; the closer the reader of an

ethnography comes to understanding the native's point of view, the better the story and

the better the science" (ibid: 2). Therefore, an open mind allows the researcher to

explore the rich, untapped sources of data that allows multiple interpretations and

alternative interpretations of reality10 (methodological steps, which followed in this

study, have put in Appendix 1).

1.6 Core-eoueepts of the thesis

It is necessary to defme briefly the core concepts and processes which are used in this

thesis to analyze the social changes in rural Sri Lanka. Accordingly, state, politics,

modernization and social welfarism are discussed as interrelated concepts and processes

22

that have affected the social change in rural Sri Lanka. As observed earlier, the state, as

a form of political entity, has implemented a vast array of distributive welfare

mechanism since 1930s with the view of uplifting life standards of the masses.

It is in order that one clarifies the concept of modernization. Modernization theory

emerged in the 1950s onwards. "This theory of modernization, as it emerged in the

1950s, contrasted sharply with the theories of historical evolution and social change

which prevailed in Western thought during the 1920s anq 1930s" (Huntington, 1971 :

290). Huntington further argued that the social theory of social change during the first

decades of twentieth century was overwhelmingly pessimistic in its view of the future

of man and society. According to the western social thought during the 1920s and

1930s, the breakup of human community, the attenuation of religious values, the drift

into alienation and anomie, the terrifying emergence of a mass _society was the product

of social change. The process of social change was however viewed optimistically since

the 1950s. This was the time when Asian and African countries won their freedom from

the colonial masters. "Modernization is the current term for an old process - the process

of social change whereby less developed societies acquire characteristics common to

more developed societies" (Lerner, 1968: 386). According to Lerner, the hard core of

modernization is the process of social change in which development is the economic

component. And, "modernization is a 'total' transformation of a traditional or pre­

modem society into the types 'Of technology and associated social organization that

characterize the 'advanced' economically prosperous, and relatively political stable

nations of the Western World" (Moore, 2004[1974]: 94). This view explains the

23

assumption that 'traditional' societies can only develop after they transform themselves

into the types of 'advanced' or 'modem' societies.

James S. Coleman explains that the political aspect of modernization refers to the

ensemble of structural and cultural changes in the political systems of modernizing

societies. Further, Coleman characterizes political modernization as: differentiation

(progressive separation and specialization of roles, institutional sphere, and associations

of the development of political systems), equality, the gro~ of political capacity,

democracy and the nation state (1968: 395-398).

"The birth of modem theory of welfare depended on the re-interpretation of certain key

political concepts: notably, liberty, community and equality" (Barry, 2002: 31). Welfare

state refers to the necessary considerations such as food, clothing, adequate housing,

education, health care, employment opportunities etc, for individual or groups that

could not gain such necessities by themselves. "Welfare itself is a generic term,

referring to the condition of well-being of the individuals and groups of a population,

defined in relation to some idea of needs. Needs are acknowledged to be historically

variable, but they typically include subsistence levels of necessaries such as food and

housing, health, protection from risk, education, and sometimes opportunities for work.

The idea of needs sets the social conception of welfare off from that employed in

welfare economics, where it refers more to the distribution of the gratification of

utilities, or wants" (Smelser, 1994: 93-94; italics in original). According to this

illustration, the basic meaning of welfare is provision of necessities or some kind of

opportunities to the weak and needy of a society.

24

Indeed, the relationship between social change and politics is very essential. As pointed

out by Giddens; "We can, however, identify the three main factors that have

consistently influenced social change: the environment, political organization and

cultural factors. Though the influence of political fact for social change in hunting and

gathering societies were minimum, since there are no political authorities capable of

mobilizing the community, in all other types of society, political agencies strongly

affects the course of development a society takes" (2000: 522-23). Politics is defined as

-

"the process within a STATE concerned with influencing the content and

implementation of the goals, policies, etc., it pursues, its government' (Collins

Dictionary ofSociology, 2006: 470; capital letters and italics are original). However, the

concept of state itself has been subject to much debate in postwar period. There are two

main approaches for studying the state in postwar period American political science: the

-'system approach' and the 'statist approach.' System theorists (particularly Almond and

Coleman, 1960) highlighted the difficulties delineating clear boundaries of 'the State'

and argued for abandoning the study of states in favour of the broader idea of a

'political System.' In their attempt to counter statist theorists represented by Marxist

functionalism that saw the state as the instrument of capitalist class interests, Mitchell

(1999) and Steinmmetz (1999) resurrect 'the state' as a discrete social fact (Sharma and

Gupta, 2006: 8). Particularly, Timothy Mitchell points out three points which affected

the return of the state: "First, by the late 1960s it was clear that US influence in the third

world could not be build on the creation of "civil cultures." Modernization seemed to

require the creation of powerful authoritarian states, as Huntington argued in 1968.

Second, from the late 1960s more powerful critique of modernization theory was

25

developed by neo-Marxist in which an important place was given to the nature and role

of the third world state. Third, in most countries of the wes~ the language of political

debate continued to refer to the institutions of the state and to the role of the state in the

economy and society" (2006[1999]: 172-3). In the context of these contradictory

aspects, the analytical framework of this study requires clear defining of state and

political organization in a backdrop of social change of post colonial world.

In this context, recalling of Max Weber's famous formulatjon on the criteria for

mapping a political organization as a state is significant in understanding the role of the

state in modernization and development in post colonial third world countries. Weber

points out; "A 'ruling organization' will be called 'political' insofar as its existence and

order is continuously safeguarded within a· given territorial area by the threat and

application of physical force on the part of the administrative sWf. A compulsory

political organization with continuous operations (politischer Anstaltabtrieh) will be

called a 'state' in so far as its administrative staff successfully upholds the claim to the

monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force in the enforcement of its order'' (1978:

54; emphasis in original). Often, this Weberian line of the state as political organization

has been conceived in many post colonial Third World countries. However, in total

contrast to the pre colonial state of affairs, when the modem state was being established

in many of these countries, it etched itself into the imagination of political leaders and

masses on social practices, moral ju<lgments, and its imaginative possibilities in a way

that no previous political agency had ever done (Khilnani, 1998: 41 ). In this contex~ the

state (including the apparatus of government and political parties) of post colonial

countries "has subsequently given rise to a narrow concept of it as a policy-making

26

actor, frequently identified in the literature with 'the public interest.' This is indeed a

very powerful view of the state in much discourse about 'development,' which appeals

to a notion of a benevolent Leviathan chartered to bring about growth or to eliminate

poverty" (Fuller and Harries, 2000: 3), and necessary social infrastructure and service

facilities. These formulations often act as a significant standpoint for this study in

mapping and counting the effects and presence of state and politics in modernization

and social change in post colonial Sri Lanka because, the atmosphere for formation of

-

the post independent Sri Lankan state within an electoral democracy has been

configured since 1930s with the introduction of the universal franchise.

Writing from an erstwhile colonial context, it is important to add some disclaimer.

Modernization theory adopts a unilinear model of development that consumes a time

lag between the western and nonwestern world. Historically, howeyer, this is not true.

Modernization is the sense of industrialization and the growth of capitalism in the west

entailed a colonial form of development in the colonized societies. The story of the

plantation economy is an indicator.

Further, notion of welfare and accountability of the state to its people formed part of the

story of liberalism and socialism in western modernity with a significant impact on the

colonized countries. In this regards, Sri Lanka is a one of good example. Through an

intensive study of the village subjected to this study, I intend to discuss the impact of

the welfare politics on the rural community of Sri Lanka

In this thesis, I have used the term 'benevolent distributor,' aware that it may be

misconstrued, to delineate the role of the state in modernization and development in

27

rural Sri Lanka during past seven decades. I have used this term deliberately to

designate the vital commitment of the state in complex field of social practices, social

mobility and vast array of public interest during that period. This commitment of the

state in such fields represents politicians' moral judgments on the role of the state as

distributor together with public expectation of the potential of the state on improving

their standards of life and status in the society. This will be elaborated in the

forthcoming chapters of this thesis.

1. 7 Organization of the Thesis

This thesis consists of six chapters. This first chapter has introduced the context and

central argument. It has delineated the objectives, research questions, research area,

methodology and core concepts which are applied in this thesis. In chapter two, I focus

my attention on the theoretical approach, and an overview of social changes in Sri

Lanka which have occurred since 1930s. In analyzing the theoretical approach, an

attempt will be made to show the centrality of the state in modernization and social

change, particularly in Asian and African context. In the second part of this chapter,

the discussion will be mainly on the changing nature of politics and state policies from

colonial administrator to benevolent post-colonial distributor in Sri Lanka and its

resultant impact on the rural society of the country.

An analysis of empirical data, collected {i'Om the village where the ethnographic study

was conducted is undertaken from chapter three onwards. Along with a discussion of

location and topography of Kurulubedde and vicinity, chapter three analyzes the

situation of the village during the colonial period, and the influence of benevolent state

28

intervention on the demographic, economic and social changes. One focuses especially

on the development of dependence on the state and the active role of partisan political

identification. Chapter four deals with the development of political affiliation with

state activities in the concerned village. It examines the manner in which villagers have

entrenched partisan political structure based on a bond of patronage and dependence.

Chapter five documents the development of sharp competition and conflicts among the

politically motivated villagers, with special attention to the nature of these

-competitions at the present. In the last chapt~r, one seeks to put across the conclusion

that this study arrives at.

•

29

Notes

2

3

4

Crown land sale for plantation economy was a lucrative business for colonial government since the early decades of 19th century. In the period of eight years of early days of plantation economy (1837-1845), 291,504 acres of 'Crown land' were sold to the planters (Gunasinghe, 1990: 47). In the period 1833 to 1906, 1,798,212 acres of 'Crown lands' were sold to planters, and earned Rs. 35,337,076 by colonial government (Silva, 1973: 262). For more detail see, Vanden Driesen ( 1961)

Moor (1985) has pointed out that the notion of devastative impact of plantation economy on rural masses is a widely accepted and exaggerated Sinhalese myth, but not necessarily false. He used the term 'Sinhalese myth,' because plantations were established almost exclusively in the Sinhalese areas. Pointing a report of state appointed commission (Kan9yan Peasantry Commission, 1951) which examined the impact of colonial plantation economy in Kandyan areas and a book (Sarkar and Tharnbaiyah, 1957) which was based on rural survey in the same Kandyan areas, Moor tells that this exaggerated myth has played an important role in the development of Sinhala nationalist politics. According to him, plantation economy itself has absorbed a considerable amount of peasantry which lost land inheritance during the growth of plantation economy as labour (Moor, 1985: 66-77, 243-47). But, a number of other studies have pofuted out that such kind of absorb was not possible because most of the labour requirement of plantation economy has been fulfilled by South Indian labourers (Ivan, 1990: 131-2; Vanden Driesen, 1961: 8-12)

"Chena" is the anglicized word of the Sinhala term 'hena' that referred for highland slash and burn cultivation

'In contrast to India, British did not inherit a land tax from either the Dutch or the Kandyan kings. The forms of land revenue that prevailed were taxes on grain both on paddy and dry grains' (Roberts, 1973: 133). But, all the lands were not subjected to this land revenue system. For instance, only one fourth of paddy land in Dumbara area of Kandyan kingdom was subjected to this land revenue system (Pieris, 1956). When British captured the whole country in 1815, all cultivated land of the country was subjected to the taxation system. By 1818, one tenth of the production of every paddy land was paid as the government revenue. But, the areas which were part of the rebellion of 1817-18 had to pay one fifth of their production. However, by 1850, the colonial government was not strict on grain tax as the government income was substantial during greener pasture of coffee plantation. But, when coffee economy collapsed during 1860s due to coffee leaf fungers (Hamileia Vastatrix), the colonial government was very strict on the grain tax. Government enacted Ordinance No. 05 of 1866 to confiscate the lands of defaulting grain taxpayers. Later, the government auctioned those lands. In some districts, more than one fourth of paddy lands were confiscated due to the application of this ordinance (for example:

30

5

6

7

8

Rathnapura, Badulla, Batticaloa districts). The size of most of the confiscated and auctioned land under Ordinance No. 05 of 1866 was small. The sum of defaulted tax was also less. And, those lands were sold for very less prices compared with its market value. For example, when the real price of one plot of paddy land was Rs. 400.00, it was sold only for Rs. 12.00. The defaulted tax for that plot ofland was less than 18 cent (Bandarage, 1982: 147). Thus, it is clear that most of the people who lost the land were poor peasantry (Ivan, 1990: 119-27). Also see: Obeyesekera (1967)

According to the gradual expansion of the Legislative Council, by 1920s, system of elective elements was granted to select the unofficial members to the Legislative Council. But, numbers of voters were very limited as the voting rights being confined to those with high property income and educational qualifications. The number who registered as voters in 1924 was 204,997 or roughly 4 per cent of the total population of the country. See, Wilson, A.J. (1973) 'The Development of the Constitution 1910-1947,' in History of Ceylon, ed. K.M. De Silva Colombo: University of Ceylon, P. 371

For instance see: Jayasuriya, 2004; 2000; Abeyratne, 1998;-Uyangoda, 1998a; Laxman, 1997; Alailama, 1997; Bjorkman 1985; Moore, 1985; Obeyesekera, ·· 1984; Manor, 1984; Wyler 1983; Balakrishnan 1980; Wilson, 1979; Jupp, I 978; Morrision et al, 1978; Kearney, 1973; Wriggins, 1960 etc.

When the anti-Tamil riots began in July 1983, Spencer was fol1owing his ethnographic fieldwork in a village in south central Sri Lanka Influence of those incidents in 1983 on Spencer's ethnographic perspective can be seen with his immediate article, "Popular perceptions of the violence: A Provincial View," published in 1984 with the collection of articles regarding confrontational political atmosphere in Sri Lanka in early 1980s including eruption of ethnic problem and deterioration of democratic civil atmosphere of the country. See, Manor, James ( ed) (1984) Sri Lanka: In Change and Crisis, London: Croom Helm. In the same year, another collection of articles which focused the same themes came out (Committee for Rational Development, 1984). After that, there is a vast array of studies and literature on the emergence of such situations in the country in a context of the failure of nation building, exclusion of youth and minor ethnic groups from socio-political arena, institutionalization of state violence and so on. For instance see, Hoole, 2001; Silva, 2000; Bell, 2000; Uyangoda, 1998a; 1998b; Perera, 1998; Uyangoda and Biyanwila (ed) 1997; Senarathne, 1997; Gunarathna, 19~2; Ivan, 1998; 1990; ...

According to Census in 1871 and 1881, Puttalam and Chillaw were considered as one district. But according to the census between 1891 to 1953 census, Puttalam and Chillaw were formed into two separate districts. According to 1963 census, these two districts had been considered as one district.

31

9

10

Accordingly, I show the population of Puttalam and Chillaw district as one district in the period since 1901 to 1953.

For various perspectives of ethnographic studies of the state in South Asia in neo-liberal transnational moment; see, Gupta, 2006 [1995]; Chaudhuri, 2005; Jeganathan, 2004; and collection of ethnographic studies on the state edited by C.J Fuller and V eronique Benei, 2000

The distinction between insider and outsider perspectives is an essential part of ethnographic method. In the first case, outsider or stranger enters to a selected society and attempts to learn about the way of life its people. But here, there may be some problems faced by outsiders because of language, cultural, racial, or ethnic difference between researchers and researched. On the other hand, an insider who belongs to his or her own cultural, racial, or ethnic group can easily access the studied community and can conduct research easily. But this notion is also debatable. Jones (1982) says that the outsider may have some certain advantages in a certain situation to access better than insider, but on the other hand, the researcher has to face some difficulties because he has been an outsider. Also, insiders may have advantages and disadvantages in his or her own community. See, Jones, Delmos J. (1982) 'Towards a Native Anthropology,' in Anthropology for the Eighties, ed. Jonathan B. Cole. New York: The Free Press

32