Tamil nationalism and the LTTE were manufactured by Sinhalese ethnocentric government policies.
Evidence
Tamil nationalism is a reactive phenomenon (Kearney 1967; Tambiah 1986; Harris 1990; Swamy 1995; Wilson 2000; DeVotta 2004b; Sahadevan and DeVotta 2006). The Tigers too were made, not born. Both Tamil nationalism and the subsequent phenomenon of the LTTE were products of ethnocentric policies embraced by successive Sri Lankan governments. … Successive [Sinhalese] governments were more preoccupied with securing their own base among the Sinhalese … at virtually any cost—or rather, in the political auction, preventing themselves being pushed out by their rivals. If the Tamils had not existed, Colombo would have had to invent them. And, in an important sense, it did. It was Colombo that forced the inhabitants of the north to become different, to cease to be Sri Lankan and become exclusively Tamil (Harris 1990: 221). — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 227
Tamil nationalism is a reactive phenomenon (Kearney 1967; Tambiah 1986; Harris 1990; Swamy 1995; Wilson 2000; DeVotta 2004b; Sahadevan and DeVotta 2006). The Tigers too were made, not born. Both Tamil nationalism and the subsequent phenomenon of the LTTE were products of ethnocentric policies embraced by successive Sri Lankan governments. — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 227
Categorization
- XREF: Directly parallels the reader’s core question about whether intergroup enmity is manufactured rather than primordial — this is almost a verbatim confirmation of the ‘invented enemy’ thesis, echoing the tamarisk/air-conditioner thinking on manufactured infrastructure except applied to identity. — connects to: Ethnic outbidding by Sinhalese parties drove ethnic polarization.; Sinhalese nationalists engineered demographic consolidation of Tamil regions through state land seizure.; Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism is reactive, not primordial — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 105 (+3 more)
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist…, 227
Broader Connections
- Sinhalese nationalists engineered demographic consolidation of Tamil regions through state land seizure.
#expands(0.85) - Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism is reactive, not primordial
#corroborates(0.80) — Neil DeVotta, Sinhalese Buddhist Nationalist Ideology, 105