In My Mother's House: Civil War in Sri Lanka (The Ethnography of Political Violence) Paperback – October 16, 2013

It's hard to capture my ambivalence about this book. On the one hand, this is the work of a sharp, sophisticated, young anthropologist. She knows the Civil War in Sri Lanka intimately, and she has gathered material that is invaluable. You won't be able to find anything like it anywhere (on the fate of the Northern Muslims, for instance). For those interested, her analyses are generally convincing and original ( i.e. on how events produce shifts in identity).Her politics are primarily anti-LTTE, understandably since her mother was murdered by the Tigers. Even so, her politics are never simplistic, always allowing the reader to see the world from the perspective of individualized actors. If, like me, you're a general reader, not confident of your grasp of the complex history of Sri Lanka, rest assured that Thiranagama provides enough background information.What's frustrating about this book, is the unnecessary academic sludge which has been poured throughout the text, most of it very unhelpful. Have you ever spilled coffee on a book? It's sort of like that. Who really needs to be told that human relations are complex and filled with ambivalent emotions, sometimes repressed? And then, a bunch of references to authorities who have discussed the fact that things are complicated. Finally, the author begins to tell of her best friend's teenage relationship with an 'inappropriate' boy amidst fluctuating caste sentiments, but instead of developing what happened, the story is truncated with some academic reflections about displacement, etc.To be fair, I suspect that the author sort of agrees with me, that she feels like she was forced to follow conventions she doesn't particularly care for. I picture some evil personified Anthropology (like the LTTE?) standing over her and ordering her to write in the approved fashion.

incredible detail and insider knowledge from a writer and scholar who understands jaffna.