Ethnic Belongingness among Residents of a Sanitary Workers’ Community in Sri Lanka: Focusing on Their Practices and Narratives Conditioned by “Circumstances”

Abstract

Sanitary workers in Sri Lanka are employed by municipalities, and in parts of the country they tend to live together in crowded settlements with line-houses. Since the colonial period, migrant workers from South India have comprised a major segment of the sanitary workforce, and in general discourse they are identified as “Indian Tamils” and “low castes/ untouchables.” Such discourse is also adopted by some scholars to explain the discrimination against them. However, my observation has revealed that many of them refer to themselves not as “Indian Tamil” but as “Sri Lankan Tamil,” defined generally as Tamils who have been on the island for centuries. The only study about the sanitary workers’ community in Sri Lanka (written in English) [Silva et al. 2009] seems to overlook this narrative by the community’s members.

Following an earlier study about the sociality and sense of belongingness of estate worker Tamils [Suzuki S. 鈴木晋介 2013], this article examines the practices and narratives of the members of a sanitary workers’ community in Northwestern Province. It tries to interpret their sense of belongingness without confirming objectively their ethnic identity. This examination reveals that, far from being a false pretense to achieve fake identity as “Sri Lankan Tamils” who are not or less discriminated against, or an incorrect self-representation due to ignorance about the definition of ethnicity, the narrative is a performative articulation of their longing to maintain a relationship with ethnic others with whom they share the everyday local world.