Crucible of Conflict

Dennis B. McGilvray is Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of Symbolic Heat: Gender, Health, and Worship among the Tamils of South India and Sri Lanka.

“For the forseeable future, anyone interested in the people of Sri Lanka’s eastern coast will need to consult Dennis B. McGilvray’s magisterial and definitive new book.” - Mark Whitaker, Journal of Anthropological Research “McGilvray’s book will certainly provide a benchmark for all future work in this part of Sri Lanka, and it provides the essential context for the work of other important anthropologists writing about Eastern Sri Lanka. . . . It is also extremely well written and exemplifies the strengths of detailed long-term field research in providing intellectually persuasive anthropological analysis.”- R.L. Stirrat, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute “The strength of this book is its perspicuity of the history and minutiae of social relations of and between Tamils and Muslims in eastern Sri Lanka.” - Vivian Y. Choi, Current Anthropology “Crucible of Conflict is clearly one of the most important books on Sri Lanka to be published in decades. Dennis B. McGilvray has written a rich, thorough, historically grounded ethnography of a fascinating but understudied region, and he has articulated it with the most contemporary regional, national, and world developments. He moves smoothly and never superficially from ancient history to his decades of ethnographic work, to world Islam, to the recent tsunami. This is work of lasting value, a book that will be cited and cited for years to come.”-Deborah Winslow, co-editor of Economy, Culture, and Civil War in Sri Lanka “Dennis B. McGilvray has long been engaged in ethnographic and historical research among Muslims and Hindus in Sri Lanka’s matrilineal belt in the East Coast, the current scene of intense ethnic conflict and warfare. This much-awaited book will be indispensable for understanding the complexities of the nation’s ethnic conflict and a ‘must read’ for those working in South Asia, on ethnic conflict and resolution, on the vicissitudes of matrilineal descent and the complexities of historical and social change in this region.”-Gananath Obeyesekere, Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, Princeton University “Recognized as a leading anthropologist of Sri Lanka, Dennis B. McGilvray has been studying the Tamil-speaking Hindus and Muslims of the country’s eastern region for some thirty years. McGilvray argues that it is in the eastern region that the future of the insurgency is being decided, and therefore the future of Sri Lanka itself. His book has great potential to deepen understanding of the crisis, and to show the strategic importance of this neglected region. It is a very rich work.”-Thomas R. Trautmann, author of Languages and Nations: The Dravidian Proof in Colonial Madras “For the forseeable future, anyone interested in the people of Sri Lanka’s eastern coast will need to consult Dennis B. McGilvray’s magisterial and definitive new book.” - Mark Whitaker (Journal of Anthropological Research) “McGilvray’s book will certainly provide a benchmark for all future work in this part of Sri Lanka, and it provides the essential context for the work of other important anthropologists writing about Eastern Sri Lanka. . . . It is also extremely well written and exemplifies the strengths of detailed long-term field research in providing intellectually persuasive anthropological analysis.”- R.L. Stirrat (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute) “The strength of this book is its perspicuity of the history and minutiae of social relations of and between Tamils and Muslims in eastern Sri Lanka.” - Vivian Y. Choi (Current Anthropology)

• List of Illustrations ixList of Tables xiiiAcknowledgments xvNote on Transliteration xviiPart 1. Framing Fieldwork in the Batticaloa Region Introduction 3Chapter 1. The Research Setting 21Part 2. Problems of History and Anthropology Chapter 2. Past and Present 55Chapter 3. Issues in Comparative Ethnography 97Part 3. Tamil and Muslim Social Structure Chapter 4. Views of the Tamil Caste Hierarchy 151Chapter 5. The Tamil High Caste Alliance 167Chapter 6.The Kudi in Action 189Chapter 7. A Profile of the Tamil Specialist Castes 210Chapter 8. The Moors: Matrilineal Muslims 266Chapter 9. Muslim Elites and Specialists 292Part 4. Ethnicity, Conflict, and the War in the East Chapter 10. Ethnic Identities and Communal Violence 313Epilogue: Fieldnotes from the War Zone 331Appendix 1. Tamil Kinship Terms in Akkaraipattu 365Appendix 2. Moorish Kinship Terms in Akkaraipattu 367Notes 369Glossary 389Bibliography 395Index 417