The Making and Meaning of Relationships in Sri Lanka: An Ethnography on University Students in Colombo

by Mihirini Sirisena

Overview

This book proposes that romantic relationships—filtered through various socio-cultural sieves—can lead to the development of affective kin bonds, which underlie our sense of personhood and belonging. Sirisena argues that the process resembles an attempt to make strangers into kin, and that sort of affective relating is a form of self-conscious relationality, in which the inhabitants reflect on their individual and collective needs, as well as their expectations and dreams in the future of their relationships. University students’ romantic relationships, which they gloss as 'serious,' appear to be processual and non-linear, and are considered to be stabilising forces which are pitched against the inherent uncertainty in young people’s lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319763354
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	03/16/2018
Series:	Culture, Mind, and Society
Edition description:	1st ed. 2018
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mihirini Sirisena is Visiting Fellow at Durham University, UK, and is currently working on her new project on ageing and wellbeing. She obtained her PhD in social anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- 2. Ruminating on Love and Love Relationships.- 3. Ayyas and Nangis in Love.- 4. Making it Real.- 5. My World in My Pocket: Phones, Relationships and Expectations.- 6. Balancing between Pleasure and Propriety: Where, What and How.- 7. Sex Games: Pleasures and Penance.- 8. Magēma Kenek: On Future and Certainty.- 9. Reflections: Serious Relationships: Intersubjective Intermingling, Fuller lives and Embodied Emotions.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In her insightful ethnography, Sirisena takes us into a world that is usually only glimpsed from afar. We are treated to a sensitive and detailed account of how university students in Colombo accomplish the dual task of self-making at the same time as making relationships with one another. The account is all the more engaging for the fact that these young people are working out complex intersections of class, caste, gender, sexual propriety and the nature of intimacy. Moreover, they are doing so at a time when norms and values relating to marriage and sex in Sri Lankan society are rapidly changing. The students describe articulately and often poetically their thoughts, feelings and predicaments about courtship, coupledom and their hopes for the future. The book gives us a rare and valuable insight into a time of intensity, reflection and exploration among Sri Lankan youths and from which a lot can learned.” (Bob Simpson, Professor of Anthropology, DurhamUniversity, UK)

“Native ethnographer Mihirini Sirisena delves into the intimacies of couple relationships between college students in Sri Lanka. Research participants talk about virginity, sexual intimacy, and gendered power relations, and the author deftly frames their frank revelations within an analysis of propriety, trust, and commitment. The book also explores terms of endearment, the value of thoughtful gifts, and the use of mobile phones, among other topics. In examining the practices of youthful love, Sirisena sheds light on surprising differences and heartwarming similarities in romantic relationships around the world.” (Michele Ruth Gamburd, Professor of Anthropology, Portland State University, USA)