Description
This paper, drawn from my doctoral research, critically examines the intersection of body, honour-shame norms, and the gendered dimensions of sexual violence during the Sri Lankan civil war. It is based on a digital interview between the researcher, based in India, and a social activist in Sri Lanka. This dialogue functions as a form of feminist praxis that challenges silence, stigma, and state-imposed impunity surrounding wartime sexual violence against Tamil women.
Focusing on the Vishvamadhu rape case, one of the few instances where Tamil women survivors pursued legal justice against the Sri Lankan military, the study interrogates how notions of honour and shame shape post-war responses to sexual violence. The case involved two victims in a resettled northern village in 2010 and was the first to prompt police action and arrests. Although the Jaffna High Court initially ruled in favour of the victims, the perpetrators were later acquitted, reflecting the persistence of state impunity. Survivors continue to endure trauma while facing cultural stigma tied to purity and family honour, reinforcing their marginalisation within both state and community structures.
The study advances feminist research methodology by framing researcher-activist conversations as a decolonial practice that deconstructs silence and stigma around sexual violence. Here, conversation becomes a collaborative, situated method through which social realities are co-created and suppressed narratives reclaimed. By examining wartime rape as both a tool of domination and a site of resistance, this research highlights the entanglement of women’s bodies, national identity, and state violence. Ultimately, it constructs a counter-archive of resistance that challenges erasure and offers new insights into post-war justice, gendered violence, and the ethical imperatives of feminist scholarship in conflict-affected contexts.
