Fictive kinship and the survival of a new way of life among Sinhalese IDPs in Sri Lanka (a social anthropological study of displaced people due to civil war in Sri Lanka)

Abstract

Sri Lanka's 26-year-long protracted civil war triggered a variety of social and economic issues in the Sri Lankan context. As a consequence, people who were residing in the North and Eastern provinces were largely displaced and it directly resulted in a huge amount of internal and external migrations. However, displacement has changed relationship patterns among Sinhala communities as well as some relationships, such as fictive kinship, have an effect on how Sinhala people survive new lifestyles. This study is concerned with the post-war survival of the new way of life for the war-affected Sinhalese IDPs and how fictional relationships have affected that. The objectives of this study were to identify reasons which Sinhalese IDPs tend toward fictive kinship, to explore the impact of fictive kinship on the survival of a new lifestyle for Sinhalese IDPs, and to identify trends related to the fictive kinship of Sinhalese IDPs. The research method was the case study and data was obtained through in-depth interviews. The research area was Galkandegama village at Rambawa Divisional Secretariat in Anuradhapura district in Sri Lanka and the research sample was purposely selected by pre-observations among displaced families. The findings show that the reduction of blood relationships, although there are blood relatives, they were unable to assist them due to various financial difficulties are the primary factors influencing Sinhala people to trend toward fictive kinship. Therefore, fictive kinship has positive effects on Sinhala people who were resettled. Fictive kinship had positive effects on the resettled Sinhala community in that it helped them meet their basic needs and obtain new homes and permanent residences and to have psychological support in adoption to the new lifestyle as well. The new trend of this is the expansion of these fictive relationships among resettled people into blood relationships through marriage.