The Politics of dark tourism in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACTPost-war Sri Lanka has witnessed revitalised tourism in the North. Tourism initiatives are now taking shape within a contested terrain still marred by decades of violence. Yet, tourism is reconfigured in the background of divided and often exclusive sovereign claims to territory and life-worlds. It is evident that dark tourism’s consumptive practices are prevalent, instituting careful memorialisation of war; mollifying the sensibilities of the Sinhala majority. These practices valorise the Army and effectuate relations of supremacy and subjection. Moreover, with the Army as pre-eminent rulers this stark reality also entails narratives of displacement, exclusion, and surveillance. The paper argues that transformation of the North as governed by the Army alongside aggressive development constitutes necrocapitalism.KEYWORDS: Sri Lankadark tourismmemorialisationarmyethnic conflictnecrocapitalism AcknowledgementAn earlier version of this paper was presented online at the “Innovations in the Social Sciences and Humanities” (ISSH) conference 2021, organised by Ton Duc Thang University et al.Additional informationNotes on contributorsDebopriya ShomeDebopriya Shome is a PhD student at the Department of International Relations, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He is currently researching the growth of platform labour in India. As a young political scientist, he has contributed popular pieces on different subjects. His research interests include platform labour, dark tourism, digital political communication, digital political economy, Marxism, etc.