Double wounding? : aid & activism in post-tsunami Sri Lanka

Date

2008

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, LK

Abstract

Those who argue for participation in development, “tend to believe that through this notion they have found a way of dealing with social contradictions generated by capitalism.” However, experts and animators, as mere ‘facilitators’ in this process also enable the development industry to shift responsibility (and thus accountability) for the consequences of their projects, to the participating folk. This paper questions intertwined notions of charity and wounding in war-torn, post-tsunami Sri Lanka where aid, in all its myriad forms from charity to cash-for-work to psycho-social therapy, appears at least at first pass, as a salve for those wounded by war and/or the tsunami.

Description

Also published in “Tsunami in a time of war: aid, activism & reconstruction in Sri Lanka and Aceh,” de Alwis, Malathi and Hedman, Eva-Lotta E., eds. (2009)
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Keywords

CONFLICTS, INTERNATIONAL AID, POST-TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION, NATURAL DISASTERS, EMERGENCY RELIEF, HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE, ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION, AID PROGRAMMES, GOVERNANCE, EMPOWERMENT, SRI LANKA

Citation

DOI