Abarna Selvarajah
Abarna Selvarajah is an Eelam Tamil writer, facilitator, and Ph.D. Candidate based in Toronto. Her research examines occupation and militarisation through plantation capitalism and militarised settlement zones, as well as practices of resistance and refusal. Abarna’s work continues to be strengthened by her relationships to people, land, and life.
Refusal and Resistance: the Sri Lankan State’s Failure in Sivanagar, Kilinochchi
The Sri Lankan state’s attempt to construct a Buddhist vihara on the grounds of a historic temple in Sivanagar reflect broader strategies of militarisation, Buddhisisation, and demographic engineering in the Tamil North-East. It foregrounds forms of collective refusal by local residents, whose everyday acts of resistance have prevented the project from materialising despite persistent state pressure and surveillance.
