Sri Lankan Northern Tamils in Colombo: Broken Memories of Home

Abstract

The Sri Lankan conflict that officially ended in 2009 resulted not only in large numbers of Tamils leaving the country to join the vast global Tamil diaspora but also created many internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Sri Lanka’s Northern Tamil communities who settled in Colombo. This article examines the idea of home among such IDPs, showing how broken memories of an earlier home and different approaches towards return shape feelings of being an ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’ among Tamil IDPs in Colombo. Drawing on the life experiences of such IDPs, the article shows that they now often view Colombo as a more suitable home yet are still ‘becoming insiders’ rather than ‘being insiders’.