“Our Kith and Kin”?: Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees and the Ethnonationalist Parties of Tamil Nadu

Jones, Demelza ORCID: 0000-0002-5985-1972 (2012) “Our Kith and Kin”?: Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees and the Ethnonationalist Parties of Tamil Nadu. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 18 (4). pp. 431-451. doi:10.1080/13537113.2012.734174

Preview

Text (Peer-reviewed version) 5969 - Jones - 2012 - Our kith and kin.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License All Rights Reserved. Download (422kB) | Preview

Abstract

This article explains the impact of substate nationalism on the political dynamic surrounding ethnic kin migration through a case study of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu. Examples drawn from the migration studies literature identify ethnic kinship between refugees and host as an indicator of favorable reception and assistance. While this expectation is borne out to an extent in the Tamil Nadu case, it is tempered by a period of hostility following the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by an LTTE suicide bomber, when the refugees were figured as a disruptive and dangerous presence by Tamil Nadu's political elites. A version of the “triadic nexus” model of kin state relations, reconfigured to accommodate the larger political unit within which the substate nationalism is incorporated, is proposed as a framework of analysis for these events. This can better account for Tamil Nadu's substate ethnonationalist elite's movement between expressions of coethnic solidarity with the refugees and the more hostile, security-focused response postassassination.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics on 16th November 2021, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2012.734174.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Elite politics; International migration; Nationalism; Refugee; Tamil Nadu; India
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races J Political Science > JQ Political institutions Asia
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Demelza Jones
Date Deposited:	20 Sep 2018 12:45
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 08:25
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/5969

University Staff: Request a correction | Repository Editors: Update this record