Basu,I. and Hettiarachchi, R. 2026. Agentive minorities: Place-memory, Identity and Ontological Security in Post-War Sri Lanka. Conflict, Security & Development. 26 (1), pp. 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2025.2590191
| Title | Agentive minorities: Place-memory, Identity and Ontological Security in Post-War Sri Lanka |
|---|---|
| Type | Journal article |
| Authors | Basu,I. and Hettiarachchi, R. |
| Abstract | This article examines how minoritised and securitised neighbourhoods respond creatively to inflection points in prolonged violent conflict and its afterlives. Drawing on ontological security studies and the anthropology of violence, it highlights the everyday labour of coexistence and the positive role of anxiety management in securing the community. Typically, inflection points – critical occurrences that unsettle routine coexistence and test community bonds – prompt narratives to re-assert a stable “we-ness”. However, based on oral histories from Kompagna Veediya, a multiethnic neighbourhood in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the article shows how long-term residents draw on their collective place-identity rather than their ethno-religious affiliations to mitigate outside scrutiny. They mobilised this place-identity in three interconnected ways: by |
| Keywords | Ethno-religious conflict, ontological security, minoritisation, co-existence, post-conflict urbanism, Sri Lanka |
| Journal | Conflict, Security & Development |
| Journal citation | 26 (1), pp. 1-33 |
| ISSN | 1467-8802 |
| 1478-1174 | |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| Publisher's version | License CC BY 4.0 File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1080/14678802.2025.2590191 |
| Publication dates | |
| Published online | 04 Dec 2025 |
| Published in print | 2026 |