A Sense of Viidu

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Niro Kandasamy, Nirukshi Perera, Charishma Ratnam

   Pages 1-24

3. The Politics of Home and Belonging

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 25-25

      PDF

   2. Movements of Minorities: AusLankan Struggles for Justice

      • Sumugan Sivanesan

      Pages 27-46

   3. Lionheart

      • Gary Paramanathan

      Pages 47-51

   4. Home, Continuities and Resistance: Memory Activism in the Aftermath of Sri Lanka’s Civil War

      • Niro Kandasamy

      Pages 53-69

4. The Psychological Effects of Remembering Home

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-71

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   2. My Life: A Fragile Raft

      • Paheerathan Pararasasingam

      Pages 73-76

   3. Tamil Women in the Home Away from Home: The Impact of War Trauma on Psychological Wellbeing

      • Neeraja Sanmuhanathan

      Pages 77-93

   4. The Struggle over Memory: The Relational Dimensions of Traumatic Memory in the Lives of Tamil Asylum-Seeking Adolescents

      • Lux Ratnamohan, Yalini Krishna, Sarah Mares, Derrick Silove

      Pages 95-112

   5. Naren

      • Shankari Chandran

      Pages 113-116

5. Social and Cultural Experiences of (Re)creating Home

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 117-117

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   2. (Re)creating Home: The Lived and Gendered Experiences of Tamil Women in Sydney, Australia

      • Charishma Ratnam

      Pages 119-135

   3. Tamil Weekends: Intergenerational Perspectives on Belonging

      • Nirukshi Perera

      Pages 137-154

   4. Bittersweet

      • S. Shakthidaran

      Pages 155-157

   5. Conclusion: (Re)creating Home—Remembering the Past, Looking to the Future

      • Niro Kandasamy, Nirukshi Perera, Charishma Ratnam

      Pages 159-165

6. Back Matter

   Pages 167-168

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This book is the first compilation of the experiences of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in Australia. It explores the theme of home—from what is left behind to what is brought or (re)created in a new space—and all the complex processes that ensue as a result of leaving a land defined by conflict. The context of the book is unique since it focuses on the ten-year period since the Sri Lankan civil war ended in 2009. Although the war has officially come to an end, conflict continues in diverse and insidious forms, which we present from the point of view of those who have left Sri Lanka. 


The multidisciplinary nature of the book means that various aspects of Sri Lankan Tamil experiences are documented including trauma, violence, resettlement, political action, cultural and religious heritage, and intergenerational transmission. This book draws on qualitative methods from the fields of history, geography, sociology, sociolinguistics, psychology and psychiatry. Methodological enquiries range from oral histories and in-depth interviews to ethnography and self-reflexive accounts. To complement these academic chapters, creative contributions by prominent Sri Lankan artists in Australia seek to provide personalised and alternative interpretations on the theme of home. These include works from playwrights, novelists and community arts practitioners who also identify as human rights activists. 

• Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in Australia
• A sense of home for Sri Lankan Tamils
• Second-generation Sri Lankan Tamil migrants
• Sri Lankan Tamil migration experiences
• Sri Lankan Tamil refugee & asylum seeker in Australia
• Impacts of war trauma on Sri Lankan Tamils
• Asylum seeker adolescents’ memories of the past
• Politics of belonging among Tamils in Australia
• Sri Lankan Tamil culture in Australia
• citizenship

“A poignant and relevant book for our times that provides a deep understanding of loss, displacement, migration, belonging, and home. A Sense of Viidu weaves together the history and stories of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in Australia and reveals the complex, emotional, and multi-dimensional experiences of the many thousands who have sought and continue to seek peace and a safe home.” (Padmini Sebastian OAM, University of Melbourne, Australia)

“A Sense of Viidu gives readers a profound and absorbing insight into the complexities of the Sri Lankan Tamil refugee experience in Australia. Empirically rich and deeply haunting, it accounts for homes lost and remade by subjects in exile and their unwavering spirit in the post-conflict era.” (Dr Selvaraj Velayutham, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia)

“A diverse and insightful collection of texts which show how experiences of loss in and of the homeland are intertwined with psychological, cultural, social, and material processes of homemaking in Australia. Australia’s own violent history and migration policies make up a backdrop to the efforts of first and second generation Tamil migrants to shape their lives in a world of both possibilities and pain.” (Prof Camilla Orjuela, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

• School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

  Niro Kandasamy

• Prehospital, Resuscitation and Emergency Care Research Unit, Curtin University, Perth, Australia

  Nirukshi Perera

• Monash Migration and Inclusion Centre, Monash University, Clayton, Australia

  Charishma Ratnam

Niro Kandasamy completed her doctorate at the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne, Australia. Her dissertation examines the role of memory in the life stories of young Sri Lankan Tamil people resettled in Australia in the 1980s and 1990s. She also undertakes research on the experiences of women with a disability in post-armed conflict Sri Lanka. She was a student visiting fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford in 2018. She has published work in Ethnic and Racial Studies (2018), Immigrants and Minorities (2018), Australian Social Work (2017) and Medicine, Conflict and Survival (2017). Niro is currently a Senior Research Officer at the Brotherhood of St Laurence and teaches in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. 


Nirukshi Perera received her doctorate in Linguistics from Monash University in 2017. Her thesis on language practices in a Tamil Hindu temple in Australia received the 2018 Australian Linguistics Society/Applied Linguistics Association Michael Clyne prize for the best thesis on immigrant bilingualism and language contact. She is interested in how Sri Lankan languages work in societies – from language use by migrants in the diaspora to language policy and linguistic-related justice in post-war Sri Lanka. Her work has been published in the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development and Multilingua: Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication. Niru is currently a Research Fellow in Linguistic Analysis at Curtin University. 


Charishma Ratnam is a doctoral researcher in Human Geography at the University of New South Wales, Australia. Her research interests are in cultural geography, home-making and geographies of memory and identity. She focuses on how memory and identity intersect with home-making practices for migrants. Her doctoral research investigates these intersections among Sri Lankan refugees and asylum seekers settling in homes in Sydney. Charishma employs visual and mobile methods including videography, photography and walking methods in the home with her participants to better understand their everyday routines, encounters and home-making practices as they settle in host countries. She has published her research in Geography Compass (2018), Emotion Space and Society (2019), and Visual Ethnography (2019). 

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