Farzana Haniffa | University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (original) (raw)
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Papers by Farzana Haniffa
International journal of Islam in Asia, Apr 16, 2024
Memory Studies, 2019
This paper is a commentary on a set of essays on the politics of Social Memory in the Middle East... more This paper is a commentary on a set of essays on the politics of Social Memory in the Middle East. It references issues of violence and memory in Sri Lanka when commenting on the cases from the middle east.
Modern Asian Studies, 2008
In this paper I argue that the manner in which piety is perceived and propagated among Muslims in... more In this paper I argue that the manner in which piety is perceived and propagated among Muslims in Sri Lanka must be understood as located within the context of ethnic conflict and the polarization between ethnic groups that occurred in its wake. I explore the work of one Muslim women's…
Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, 2011
This paper examines three instances of attempted rapprochement between the Liberation Tigers of T... more This paper examines three instances of attempted rapprochement between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government in 1987, 2002 and 2005, and the inadequate response to the security and economic concerns of the Muslim minority community. The state's indifference to Muslim concerns has been due to the fact that minorities continue to be considered less than worthy citizens, and the conflict has been understood to concern only the state and the LTTE. Muslims' chosen methods of engagement in politics, and recent community choices regarding self-representation, through the ‘piety movement’, for instance, have also contributed to their exclusion. This paper argues that Muslims will need to find new ways of engagement with different levels of Sri Lankan civil and political society if they are to have their concerns addressed under the new political regime and changing social conditions within the country.
Pakistan after Benazir Bhutto
From 2008
Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 2015
In an interview with a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR... more In an interview with a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Mannar town in January 2012, I heard the official claim for the first time (for me) that the northern Muslims were not their priority caseload. She stated the position to me in the following terms: "Vanni IDPs have nothing; the northern Muslims have a plan B, because they have had assistance for 20 years." Then she told me also that "the northern Muslims have a right to return, but assistance is a different matter". 2 I was taken aback by this statement because the misfit between local human rights activists" perspective on the northern Muslim predicament and the humanitarian agencies" (led by UNHCR) perspective on the issue of local integration and return was substantial. The literature on the northern Muslims highlighted the complex nature of northern Muslims" impact on Puttalam to where they were displaced, the ambivalent nature of most northern Muslims" relationship to the area where they were compelled to live for over 20 years, and the fraught and difficult relations that prevail among the IDPs and the local Muslim community in the area (
The South Asianist, 2015
Issues that are prominent within the anti-Muslim hate discourse that pervaded Sri Lanka in recent... more Issues that are prominent within the anti-Muslim hate discourse that pervaded Sri Lanka in recent years are the speed at which the Muslim community is increasing its numbers—they are said to become a majority in a few decades; as well as Muslim women’s dress- the hijab nikab and abhaya. Certain Muslim interlocutors’ own responses have included defending the hijab as protecting women from violence, and urging that the state institute measures to increase the Sinhalese population. Ironically the latter was also the position of the Bodu Bala Sena the group propagating anti- Muslim sentiment; and the government responded to the position and institutionalized it by way of a health ministry circular banning NGO programs in reproductive health. I look at the manner in which gender orders became reorganized in the aftermath of the state’s military victory over the rebel group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009 as a consequence of militarism. This reordering is reflected both in th...
The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity, 2019
Asian exchange: quarterly bulletin of the Asian …, 2005
... the sixties that referred to Tamil women within the liberation struggle: "Tamil moth... more ... the sixties that referred to Tamil women within the liberation struggle: "Tamil mothers of the past sent their sons to war against injustice; mothers of today have gathered their sons to wage a similar war" De Alwis looks at the manner in which the figure of Vihara Maha Devi, the ...
Claiming and Making Muslim Worlds
This chapter deals with Sri Lanka's Muslim council of theologiansthe All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema (... more This chapter deals with Sri Lanka's Muslim council of theologiansthe All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema (ACJU)-and their response to Sri Lanka's anti-Muslim movement. The anti-Muslim movement emerged after the end of Sri Lanka's ethnic war and flourished when Sri Lanka was exploring postwar reconciliation measures. The ACJU responded to the anti-Muslim movement using the language of the reconciliation process. Analysing the manner in which the ACJU responded to challenges faced by the Muslim community in Sri Lanka during the past decade, this chapter will argue that given the attacks that the anti-Muslim movement is mounting on Muslims' religious and cultural life, Sri Lankan Muslims require a less vulnerable institution to provide leadership when engaging with religious others. The anti-Muslim movement's undermining of ACJU's authority limits their ability to intervene. This moment also exposes weaknesses of the ACJU approach to reconciliation and offers an opportunity for the emergence of an alternative leadership.
Buddhist-Muslim Relations in a Theravada World
Religion and the Morality of the Market, 2000
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, 2016
Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, 2010
Buddhist Extremists and Muslim Minorities, 2016
A.M.A Azeez Oration , 2020
International journal of Islam in Asia, Apr 16, 2024
Memory Studies, 2019
This paper is a commentary on a set of essays on the politics of Social Memory in the Middle East... more This paper is a commentary on a set of essays on the politics of Social Memory in the Middle East. It references issues of violence and memory in Sri Lanka when commenting on the cases from the middle east.
Modern Asian Studies, 2008
In this paper I argue that the manner in which piety is perceived and propagated among Muslims in... more In this paper I argue that the manner in which piety is perceived and propagated among Muslims in Sri Lanka must be understood as located within the context of ethnic conflict and the polarization between ethnic groups that occurred in its wake. I explore the work of one Muslim women's…
Journal of Peacebuilding & Development, 2011
This paper examines three instances of attempted rapprochement between the Liberation Tigers of T... more This paper examines three instances of attempted rapprochement between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government in 1987, 2002 and 2005, and the inadequate response to the security and economic concerns of the Muslim minority community. The state's indifference to Muslim concerns has been due to the fact that minorities continue to be considered less than worthy citizens, and the conflict has been understood to concern only the state and the LTTE. Muslims' chosen methods of engagement in politics, and recent community choices regarding self-representation, through the ‘piety movement’, for instance, have also contributed to their exclusion. This paper argues that Muslims will need to find new ways of engagement with different levels of Sri Lankan civil and political society if they are to have their concerns addressed under the new political regime and changing social conditions within the country.
Pakistan after Benazir Bhutto
From 2008
Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 2015
In an interview with a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR... more In an interview with a representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Mannar town in January 2012, I heard the official claim for the first time (for me) that the northern Muslims were not their priority caseload. She stated the position to me in the following terms: "Vanni IDPs have nothing; the northern Muslims have a plan B, because they have had assistance for 20 years." Then she told me also that "the northern Muslims have a right to return, but assistance is a different matter". 2 I was taken aback by this statement because the misfit between local human rights activists" perspective on the northern Muslim predicament and the humanitarian agencies" (led by UNHCR) perspective on the issue of local integration and return was substantial. The literature on the northern Muslims highlighted the complex nature of northern Muslims" impact on Puttalam to where they were displaced, the ambivalent nature of most northern Muslims" relationship to the area where they were compelled to live for over 20 years, and the fraught and difficult relations that prevail among the IDPs and the local Muslim community in the area (
The South Asianist, 2015
Issues that are prominent within the anti-Muslim hate discourse that pervaded Sri Lanka in recent... more Issues that are prominent within the anti-Muslim hate discourse that pervaded Sri Lanka in recent years are the speed at which the Muslim community is increasing its numbers—they are said to become a majority in a few decades; as well as Muslim women’s dress- the hijab nikab and abhaya. Certain Muslim interlocutors’ own responses have included defending the hijab as protecting women from violence, and urging that the state institute measures to increase the Sinhalese population. Ironically the latter was also the position of the Bodu Bala Sena the group propagating anti- Muslim sentiment; and the government responded to the position and institutionalized it by way of a health ministry circular banning NGO programs in reproductive health. I look at the manner in which gender orders became reorganized in the aftermath of the state’s military victory over the rebel group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009 as a consequence of militarism. This reordering is reflected both in th...
The Palgrave Handbook of Ethnicity, 2019
Asian exchange: quarterly bulletin of the Asian …, 2005
... the sixties that referred to Tamil women within the liberation struggle: "Tamil moth... more ... the sixties that referred to Tamil women within the liberation struggle: "Tamil mothers of the past sent their sons to war against injustice; mothers of today have gathered their sons to wage a similar war" De Alwis looks at the manner in which the figure of Vihara Maha Devi, the ...
Claiming and Making Muslim Worlds
This chapter deals with Sri Lanka's Muslim council of theologiansthe All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema (... more This chapter deals with Sri Lanka's Muslim council of theologiansthe All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema (ACJU)-and their response to Sri Lanka's anti-Muslim movement. The anti-Muslim movement emerged after the end of Sri Lanka's ethnic war and flourished when Sri Lanka was exploring postwar reconciliation measures. The ACJU responded to the anti-Muslim movement using the language of the reconciliation process. Analysing the manner in which the ACJU responded to challenges faced by the Muslim community in Sri Lanka during the past decade, this chapter will argue that given the attacks that the anti-Muslim movement is mounting on Muslims' religious and cultural life, Sri Lankan Muslims require a less vulnerable institution to provide leadership when engaging with religious others. The anti-Muslim movement's undermining of ACJU's authority limits their ability to intervene. This moment also exposes weaknesses of the ACJU approach to reconciliation and offers an opportunity for the emergence of an alternative leadership.
Buddhist-Muslim Relations in a Theravada World
Religion and the Morality of the Market, 2000
The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, 2016
Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, 2010
Buddhist Extremists and Muslim Minorities, 2016
A.M.A Azeez Oration , 2020