Sinhalese nationalist population-counting is driven by security and majoritarian domination fears.
Evidence
This obsession with population figures gets the least publicity; yet it is an important part of the nationalist mindset because it is associated with security, majoritarianism, and domination. Thus a prominent monk noted, “When 74% of the population [Sinhalese] is united what can 26% [minorities] do” (quoted in Tambiah 1992: 124). — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 277
Categorization
- XREF: Connects directly to the manufactured-threat research purpose: population anxiety functions as the numerical scaffolding beneath the claim of an existential minority threat, even amid recorded fear-of-enemy discourse. — connects to: Sinhalese nationalist identity is constructed as inseparable from Buddhism — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 193; Ethnic outbidding by Sinhalese parties drove ethnic polarization.; Sinhalese nationalist violence against Christians is opportunistic rather than primordial — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 245 (+3 more)
- QUESTION: How does the Sinhalese majority successfully frame itself as threatened when it holds 74%? Worth chasing for the broader manufactured-victimhood dynamic.
Broader Connections
- Ethnic outbidding by Sinhalese parties drove ethnic polarization.
#corroborates(0.80) - Electoral violence in ethnically divided societies erupts when elections become ethnic head counts.
#corroborates(0.80) — Johan Brosché and Hanne Fjelde and Kristine Höglund, Electoral violence and the legacy of…, 14 - Sinhalese nationalist identity is constructed as inseparable from Buddhism
#expands(0.75) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 193 - Sinhalese nationalist violence against Christians is opportunistic rather than primordial
#qualifies(0.75) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 245