Research Themes.
State, Politics and Power
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Over the years ICES research has made a significant contribution to policy debates on state reform and power, both nationally as well as internationally. The publications “Sri Lanka: The Devolution Debate (1996)” which covered the period up to the enactment of the 13th Amendment and establishment of provincial councils in Sri Lanka and “Ideology and the Constitution” by Radhika Coomaraswamy are examples of ICES’ contribution to the national debate.
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Gender and Sexuality
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ICES, from its inception, has considered gender a core category in the analysis of ethnic identity and conflict. Hegemonic ethno-nationalisms frequently seek to degrade and feminize the “other” and while women and men within an ethnic group might be segmented in various ways according to class, caste, age, status etc., they are also invariably socialized into upholding gendered stereotypes, in the name of national/ethnic cohesion and identity. Men are expected to be valorous, and often militant, defenders of the ethnic group while women are perceived to symbolize the purity, continuity and exclusivity of the group. Some of the earliest projects in which ICES was involved thus sought to provide a feminist analysis and critique of such gendered subjectivities by unpacking patriarchal assumptions inherent in religious tenets and practices.
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Justice and Struggle for Peace
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ICES works for people excluded from access to resources, politics, and means to a dignified life. We link rights to the theme of Justice emanating from permanent discrimination, vulnerability, powerlessness, and disenfranchisement from politics – of women, immigrants, internally displaced, minorities and indigenous communities, racially discriminated groups, refugees and the stateless- consequently relating to the notion of vulnerability and protection.
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Ethnicity, Identity and Violence
| The category of Ethnicity, and the associated field of knowledge ‘ethnic studies,’ has been both a strategic position and a perspective for the Centre since its inception. Scholarship on the newly-independent Ceylon, like many postcolonial ‘new nations’ of Asia and Africa was dominated by ideas of ‘nation building,’ as exemplified in the work of the Committee of New Nations, at the University of Chicago. |