Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T06:49:18.687Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ceylon's Kristallnacht: A Reassessment of the Pogrom of 1915

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

GEORGE ROWELL
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1915 the south-western quadrant of Ceylon was convulsed by a week of rioting in which the Buddhist Sinhalese majority attacked a Muslim minority known as the Moors. The consensus amongst historians has long been that the pogrom (as it is best described) was the spontaneous result of religious tension and/or economic grievances at the popular level, with no leadership beyond the uncoordinated activities of local agitators. The consensus ignores significant evidence of wider orchestration, including the activities of itinerant gangs and other mobile agitators, the deliberate propagation of identical false rumours throughout the affected area, and the activities of individuals and societies associated with the Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist movement. Although the picture is far from complete, the best interpretation of the evidence is that this movement orchestrated the pogrom, albeit with varying degrees of success in each locality. That it was able to do so shows that Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism (as opposed to non-communalist, Ceylon-wide nationalism) was more deeply entrenched than is usually thought, which helps to explain Sri Lanka's political direction later in the century.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 43 , Issue 3 , May 2009 , pp. 619 - 648
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ameer Ali, C.L (1981), ‘The 1915 Racial Riots in Ceylon (Sri Lanka): A Reappraisal of its [sic] Causes,’ South Asia, 1–20.Google Scholar
Blackton, C.S. (1970), ‘The Action Phase of the 1915 Riots,’ Journal of Asian Studies 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernando, P.T.M. (1970), ‘The Post Riots Campaign for Justice,’ Journal of Asian Studies 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guha, R. (1983), Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India, (Delhi: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Hulugalle, H.A.J. (1963), British Governors of Ceylon, (Colombo: Associated Newspapers of Ceylon).Google Scholar
Jayasekera, P.V.G. (1970), ‘Social and Political Change in Ceylon, 1900–1919’, (University of London: Ph.D. thesis).Google Scholar
Jayawardena, K. (1970), ‘1915 Riots: Economic and Political Factors’, Journal of Asian Studies 29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kannangara, A. P. (1984), ‘The Riots of 1915 in Sri Lanka: A Study of the Roots of Communal Violence’, Past and Present 102, 130–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearney, R. N. (1967), Communalism and Language in the Politics of Ceylon, (Durham: Duke University Press).Google Scholar
Kearney, R. N.. (1970), ‘The 1915 Riots in Ceylon: A Symposium. Introduction’, Journal of Asian Studies 29, 219–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludowyck, E.F.C. (1966), The Modern History of Ceylon, (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson).Google Scholar
Ramanathan, P. (1916), Riots and Martial Law in Ceylon, 1915, (London: St Martin's Press).Google Scholar
Roberts, M. (1981), ‘Hobgoblins, Low-Country Sinhalese Plotters or Local Elite Chauvanists?, Directions and Patterns in the 1915 Communal Riots’, Sri Lanka Journal of the Social Sciences 4, 83–126.Google Scholar
Roberts, M.. Roberts, M. (ed.) (1979), Collective Identities: Nationalisms and Protest in Modern Sri Lanka, (Colombo: Marga Insititue).Google Scholar
Roberts, M.. (1994a), Exploring Confrontation: Sri Lanka: Politics, Culture and History, (Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers).Google Scholar
Roberts, M.. (1994b) Collective Identities Revisited, (Colombo: Marga Institute).Google Scholar
Rogers, J. (1987), Crime Justice and Society in Colonial Sri Lanka (London: Curzon Press).Google Scholar
Rogers, J.. (1989), ‘Cultural Nationalism and Social Reform: The 1904 Temperance Movement in Sri Lanka’, Indian Economic and Social History Review 26, 319–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Silva, K.M. (1981), A History of Sri Lanka, (London: Hurst).Google Scholar
de Souza, A. (1916), Hundred Days in Ceylon, (London: Woolridge & Co).Google Scholar