Description
This research examines how multiple identities intersect and overlap and how this impacts the way people navigate their daily lives in conflict contexts. Sri Lanka is often referred to as a deeply divided country. This perpetuates a narrative of habitual violence and enduring conflict along vertical social divisions of ethnicity and religion. It also creates a binary of deeply divided vs. homogenous societies. Existing literature on Sri Lanka focuses mainly on conflict and violence. Yet, everyday, people from all communities interact and form relationships at workplaces, neighbourhoods and markets. Current literature does not explain the variation in the interactions and relationships practised by the same community nor the positive relationships that cut across these dominant divisions. The everyday peace lens from critical peace and conflict studies directs attention to this complex reality of conflict-affected societies. Applying an intersectional analysis of multiple horizontal social divisions of gender, class and caste and other power structures that shape everyday peace, this research explains the alternative connections beyond ethnic and religious fault lines. The research combines this with network analysis to trace the layers of everyday relationships. Taking Sri Lanka as a case study, the research uses life story narratives and participatory network mapping data to reveal how different social divisions shape relationships and everyday peace. These approaches challenge the binary of deeply divided and homogenous societies and underscore the need to incorporate horizontal social divisions when peacebuilding in “deeply divided” societies.
