Event overview
020 7919 7271
The Challenges of Inter-Ethnic Women’s Activism in Eastern Sri Lanka post the 2019 Easter Attacks
On Easter Sunday 2019 Sri Lanka was rocked by a series of bombings across the island, later claimed to be the work of an Islamic Extremist organization, the National Thowheeth Jama’ath. This unleashed a wave of anti-Muslim retaliatory attacks and has left the Island scarred by further inter-communal tension and division. One of the places particularly badly affected was the multi-ethnic, multi-religious town of Batticaloa in Eastern Sri Lanka (an area that was also on the frontline of much of the 30 year civil war).
In this presentation Karththiha Suvendranathan will reflect on her own experience as a women’s rights activist in Batticaloa. Drawing on Nira Yuval-Davis’ concept of ‘transversal politics’, Karththiha will explore the ways that she and other women’s rights activists from different ethnic and religious backgrounds are trying to come together in the face of extreme ethnic polarization, nationalism and fundamentalism. In particular, Karththiha will focus on the ways in which activists negotiate their identities in their interactions with the community and amongst themselves.
Karththiha Suvendranathan
Karththiha Suvendranathan is a feminist activist and researcher from Batticaloa district, Eastern Sri Lanka. From 2004 to 2016 Karththiha worked for Home for Human Rights (HHR): a national human rights organization that has worked for over 39 years to protect and promote human rights in Sri Lanka. Since leaving HHR Karththiha has been working as a freelance trainer and researcher on women’s rights in Sri Lanka. She is also a committed and passionate activist. Karththiha is a founding member of the Samathai (Equality) Feminist Collective, a board member of Suriya, one of Sri Lanka’s longest running and most renowned women’s organisations and a member of the Women’s Coalition for Disaster Management. Karththiha is currently completing a one-month AHRC funded visiting studentship at Goldsmiths as part of the ‘Building New Social Imaginaries in Post-War Sri Lanka’ project.
Dates & times
| Date | Time | Add to calendar |
|---|---|---|
| 31 Oct 2019 | 5:00pm - 8:00pm |
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