Goddess/Demoness Politics: Creating New Social Imaginaries in Post War Sri Lanka

Kiran Grewal

Achieving social change requires not only law and policy reform but also the creation of new social imaginaries. In this paper I will present some examples of current feminist activism from Sri Lanka. This activism draws on traditional imagery, myths and rituals and attempts to rearticulate them in ways that challenge and/or subvert dominant patriarchal, caste and ethno-religious and nationalist structures and discourses. In this paper I will argue that such activism is important to research for a number of reasons: first, it opens up the possibility of decolonising existing feminist theory, second and relatedly it provides an example of possible alternate foundations for feminist praxis. Third, it potentially engages the underexplored world of subaltern politics. This is extremely important in a context like post-war Sri Lanka which is both attempting to come to terms with the decades of past violence and construct a more peaceful and equitable future.

Bio:

Kiran Grewal is a Reader in Sociology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Kiran’s research is particularly concerned with the interactions between legal frameworks and social justice struggles of marginalized and/or subaltern groups. She is the author of two books: The Socio-Political Practice of Human Rights (Routledge 2016) and Racialised Gang Rape and the Reinforcement of Dominant Order: Discourses of Gender, Race and Nation (Routledge 2017).