Associated NGPA research project
Simpson, Comparative Study of Natural Disasters in India, Iran and Indonesia|
Objectives
My research aims intersect with Dr Edward Simpson's broader project to undertake a comparative study of the aftermath of natural disasters by examining the ways in which urban reconstruction is organised and influenced by a range of non-governmental public actions in different socio-cultural settings.
The added dimension I bring to this project is my experience of doing field research as well as my involvement in a variety of non-governmental public actions in the eastern province of Sri Lanka which has not only been scarred by a civil war that has extended over three decades but also been severely devastated and desolated by the December 2004 tsunami.
An unforeseen consequence of the tsunami, which killed many more women and children than men, saw a reversal of what had become a war-time demographic in the eastern province; a predominance of widows and single mothers. The now increased presence of widowers and single fathers, post-tsunami, thus required women's groups to not only address the traumatisation of men but also their increased reliance on alcohol which was in turn exacerbating domestic violence and the sexual harassment of women in public arenas.
In order to address this problem, I began working with a collective of bereaved fathers who were channeling their grief and despair into the construction of several tsunami memorials, and the performance of elaborate, public, commemorative rituals, in these spaces. My objective during the holding of this fellowship would be to analyse and reflect on these new, masculinized public actions and to compare and contrast them with memorializing public actions studied by Dr Simpson.
Recent publication Tsunami in a Time of War: Aid, Activism and Reconstruction in Sri Lanka and Aceh| by Malathi de Alwes ed. Eva Lotta Hedman published by International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo