Eva Gerharz

of lecture It has been argued that although biomedicine (also called “modern medicine,” “cosmopolitan medicine,” “allopathy” and, in German, Schulmedizin) began as a form of indigenous or local knowledge in Europe, it transcended its origins and became universal or “cosmopolitan.” It is therefore often regarded as a timeless and culture-free form of universal (as opposed to indigenous) knowledge that can be transplanted from place to place without undergoing fundamental change, much like chemistry, physics, or mathematics. I argue that, on the contrary, although there may be some heuristic value in describing it as an abstract system divorced from its context, knowledge is in fact always “done”: acquired, owned, disputed, implemented or, as the positivists would have it, “discovered.” Knowledge has no ontological status outside of the human practices that produce and reproduce it, and such practices are always historical and contextual. Thus all medicine, including modern cosmopolit...

Reconsidering the trend in anthropology to conceptualize the multifaceted nature of the state and to focus on the local social dynamics beneath the institutional framework of the state, we argue that “state” is not a single governing entity but rather a multilayered body of practices at various levels of the society. We configure “state” as constructed, imagined, and negotiated by people in their everyday life in four dimensions: zones of limited statehood depicted as “peripheries,” “local state” by which the center governs locales, “public discourse” that represents dominant notions of “stateness,” and ambivalent positioning of political elites who represents state in the margin. This argument is substantiated with the reference to the case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a southeastern part of Bangladesh.

Using the narratives of students enrolled at the North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU) in Meghalaya, this article reveals different forms of mobility at work. It shows how spatial and social movements intersect and how they shape the constitution of individual future plans. We demonstrate how students navigate the social spaces of the university and analyse how they renegotiate social relations. Particularly, we explore the ways in which students relate to people located in different places and how they construct translocal social spaces. These spaces are constituted by (im)mobile practices and also through confrontations with ethnic and religious differences. At university, students experience new sources of inspiration and the need to reposition themselves in relation to the different social and spatial constellations with which they engage. Furthermore, we show how the students develop aspirations of their own futures, in accordance with their present world, and the one they antic...

Transborder migration from northern Sri Lanka does not only have a long history reaching back to colonial times but mounted high as ethnic relations became more tense. During the war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), transborder migration became a viable option at least for the more affluent members of society. This resulted into the formation of strong transnational social ties, which were eventually facilitated by the Tamil Tigers but which also offered new opportunities for imagining one’s own future as well as the future of the region once the conflict had been put to a halt. Even though Sri Lanka’s (post-)conflict situation has ushered in a new area which is marked by the absence of warfare, tensions and ambiguous relationships vis-a-vis the state continue. Based on this observation, this chapter will argue that the conflict and conflict-induced migration have produced specific conditions under which mobility continues to be among the major means to achieve individual aspirations and better future. It will further show how this dynamic impinges on the local society, how it influences prospects for (re-)development and what the implications for sustainable peace might be.

The signing of the Peace Accord between the Government of Bangladesh and the Parbattya Chattragam Jana Samhati Samiti (JSS) on 2 December 1997 has been recognised worldwide. The peace accord has been rewarded with the general appreciation of donor agencies and other international players in the development business. The various multilateral and bilateral organisations have expressed their will to provide active support for the peace process and to increase their efforts to develop the Chittagong Hill Tracts Region (CHT), which had been badly neglected for about 20 years. Among the agencies engaged in energetic planning is the German Technical Cooperation organisation (GTZ). Since they enjoy well-established relationships with the Bangladeshi government resulting from long years of intensive development-cooperation, the Germans have been considering ways of launching an area of activity devoted to development and peace-building in the CHT.

Zusammenfassung Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Ergebnisse einer quantitativen Online-Befragung zu Einfluss und Wirksamkeit von Anreizsystemen in der universitären Lehre präsentiert. Im Mittelpunkt der Studie stehen die Ansichten der Lehrenden der Universitäten der Universitätsallianz Metropole Ruhr (UAMR). Die Ergebnisse zeigen deutlich, dass die Motivation, qualitativ gute Lehre anzubieten, im Meinungsbild der Lehrenden von intrinsischen Faktoren und positivem Feedback durch Studierende bestimmt ist. Sie zeigen zudem, dass sich Lehrende neben bereits vorhandenen Anreizsystemen eine Stärkung des Stellenwertes der Lehre innerhalb der Hochschullandschaft wünschen. Vor allem der Austausch innerhalb einzelner Fakultäten über das Thema „Lehre“ zieht nach Meinung der Befragten die Möglichkeit einer langfristigen Wahrung und Erhöhung universitärer Lehrqualität nach sich.

We were so happy to see each other after a very long time but somehow we felt scared of them. They were very Westernized. The way they spoke was strange for us. And they were wearing nice and new dresses. We felt odd compared to them, like street people. This is the comment of a Tamil woman in Sri Lanka’s Northern peninsula of Jaffna who met her relatives living in Europe after a Ceasefire Agreement had temporarily ended the Sri Lankan civil war in 2002. The statement highlights the ambivalence of the reunion after more than ten years, because it reveals her subjective feelings of alienation and that of other locals during the war vis-a-vis her emigrated relatives who had temporarily returned for a visit. Despite all the joy and happiness which marked the moment of reunion, this quote hints at the material and emotional distance which had emerged within a family and, more generally among the Sri Lankan Tamils, quite often constructed as a unified and homogeneous, yet spatially dispe...

Preface Introduction: Governance, Development and Conflict in South Asia - Siri Hettige and Eva Gerharz I: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DEVELOPMENT AND GOVERNANCE 'Participation' and 'Empowerment' in the Development Discourse: Rethinking Key Concepts - Ravinder Kaur and Vinod K Jairath The Idea of Development as Governance: India in the First Decade of Independence - Dilip M Menon II: EXPERIENCING DEVELOPMENT AND CONFLICT AT NATIONAL LEVEL Governance and Development in Post-Independence Sri Lanka - Siri Hettige Rituals of Democracy and Development in Nepal - David N Gellner III: GOVERNANCE, CONFLICT AND DEVELOPMENT: EXPERIENCE AT THE GRASSROOTS Negotiating a Dual Governance System during the Conflict in Nepal - Natalie Hicks Empowerment of Excluded Groups: Local Democracy and Social Change in Rural Odisha, Eastern India - B B Mohanty Between Order and Chaos: Jaffna's Local Images of Governance during Conflict - Eva Gerharz IV: IDEAS AND INTERESTS IN GOVERNANCE AND...

Gerharz E. Between Order and Chaos: Jaffna´s Local Images on Governance during Conflict. In: Hettige ST, Gerharz E, eds. Governance, conflict and development in South Asia.Perspectives from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Governance conflict, and civic action series. Vol 6. Los Angeles: Sage; 2015: 186-216

This introduction discusses the emergence and consolidation of spaces of violence in South Asia’s democracies from both historical and conceptual perspectives. By revealing the varied experiences and experiments across the subcontinent, it invokes a perspective on democracy and democratic governance that refrains from following the assumptions of most of the democracy research to date, which frames such debates in predominantly normative terms. In this vein, we seek to show how democracy can not only be built on a violent past, but also become the very basis for the emergence of violent spaces, which, more often than not, have unfolded in South Asia’s post-colonial societies, and possibly also in other parts of the world.

Schlusselworter: Religion; Diaspora; Tamilen; Wiederaufbau; Entwicklungsvisionen ----- “Who benefits from all these temples?” Religion, Development and Transnational Social Spaces in Northern Sri Lanka. Abstract Starting from the observation that the reconstruction of places of worship in war-torn Sri Lanka is a highly disputed terrain full of controversies, this article investigates the motivations and rationalities underlying Tamil  migrant commitment to the reconstruction of temples in the northern part of the country. Social and culturally embedded practices are geared towards the maintenance and constitution of social order. Donating to religious institutions is a conventional way to engage in social work and charity, and at the same time this practice serves the aim of securing social status  within the community of origin. Particularly illuminating is the contrast  between Hindu institutions, predominantly temples, and Christian  institutions, which are a minority in Jaffna. The questions at stake are: Does this serve the reconstruction and development process in post-war Sri Lanka? In what way do these practices instigate social change? What are  the development visions promoted by the institutions’ representatives? How do they relate to particular systems of knowledge? The analysis  reveals that poverty alleviation is always at the core of these religious activities; however, this is not always accompanied by visions of a more egalitarian society. This relates to questions concerning the localisation of  religion in the globalized world, as well as its relationship with and integration into the global developmental space. Keywords: religion; diaspora; Tamil; post-war-reconstruction; development visions ----- Bibliographie: Gerharz, Eva: „Wem nutzen nur all diese neuen Tempel?“ Religion, Entwicklung und transnationale soziale Raume im Norden Sri Lankas, PERIPHERIE, 2-2014, S. 239-262. https://doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v34i134-135.22447

ABSTRACT A growing number of so-called indigenous ‘Jumma’ people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh are migrating to New York City (NYC) in search of a ‘better life’, an attempt to escape from a situation defined largely by deprivation and exclusion. This paper asks how these migrants navigate the new terrain, which often does not comply with their expectations but instead fuels a deep sense of disappointment. It will be shown that their transnational practices and belonging are not only extensions of the global ‘Jumma’ network, but also that the formation of a diaspora community and the maintenance of cultural boundaries simultaneously create attachment to NYC. Making NYC a home is shaped by their dreams and aspirations, and by the ambiguous ways in which they relate to both the CHT and NYC, places where they find themselves torn between feelings of longing and detachment.

Angesichts der Haufung innerstaatlicher Konflikte in den Landern des Sudens sehen sich die staatlichen und nichtstaatlichen Akteure der globalen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit gezwungen, durch Wiederaufbau und entwicklungsfordernde Masnahmen einen Beitrag zur Konfliktbeilegung zu leisten. Kriege sind auserdem haufig von massiven Fluchtlingsbewegungen begleitet. Viele Menschen migrieren und schliesen sich in den Aufnahmelandern mitunter zu Diasporen zusammen, die sich fur Entwicklung im Heimatland engagieren. Da diese verschiedenen Akteure trotz ihres gemeinsamen Anliegens, den Wiederaufbauprozess voranzutreiben, unterschiedliche Interessen und Herangehensweisen verfolgen, gestalten sich Entwicklungsprozesse in post-Konflikt-Situationen auserst kompliziert und scheitern nicht selten. Auch Sri Lankas Friedensprozess, der im Fruhjahr 2002 mithilfe starken internationalen Engagements eingeleitet wurde, schlug fehl, obwohl er in Sri Lanka und daruber hinaus mit grosem Enthusiasmus gefeiert wurde. Nach fast 30 Jahren Krieg zwischen der sri lankanischen Regierung und den Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), der bis dahin mehr als 60.000 Menschenleben gekostet hatte,1 eroffneten sich endlich wirklich erfolgversprechende Aussichten auf dauerhaften Frieden, Wiederaufbau und damit die Verbesserung der Lebensbedingungen. Die internationale Gebergemeinschaft stellte im Juni 2003 insgesamt 4,5 Milliarden US Dollar zur Verfugung und demonstrierte damit ihr Vertrauen in den Erfolg der Konfliktbeilegung. Durch die zunehmende Translokalisierung der tamilischen Bevolkerung Sri Lankas wurde der Wiederaufbauprozess von dem auserordentlichen Engagement der tamilischen Diasporamitglieder finanziell und beratend begleitet. Viele Diasporamitglieder besuchten die Heimat und begannen, zwischen Wohnund Herkunftsort zu pendeln. Diese Diaspora-Zirkulation und der erneute Kontakt mit Verwandten und Bekannten in Nordost-Sri Lanka brachte neben der Wiedersehensfreude vielerlei Veranderungen, Konflikte und komplizierte Aushandlungen insbesondere in Hinblick auf die Gestaltung von Entwicklung mit sich.

Day in Dhaka. When we arrived at the Shaheed Menar (Monument for the Language Move- ment of 1952), the entire square was crowded with members of Bangladesh's indigenous communities. Several women and men wore their ethnic costume, including the head-dress, many of them held posters and signboards carrying political messages. Several honorary in- digenous and Bengali civil society members, Bengali and indigenous were seated on the stage, watching the performances and giving speeches before the procession started along the main road of the Dhaka University campus. It was a peaceful gathering, which led us to the hall in the Engineers Institute where a film about indigenous people in Bangladesh was screened. Later on, honorary persons from the civil society and a government representative gave speeches again, elaborating on the claims of indigenous people in Bangladesh. This strong and visible performance of indigenous activism in Bangladesh's capitol amazed me. When I visite...

This article looks at how social relations change when proximity is re‐established after a long period of separation. This theoretically inspired question is discussed in the case of Sri Lanka, where a peace process in 2002 enabled exiled Tamils to temporarily return to their ‘homeland’. The new mobility of these migrants constituted a significant momentum for the re‐negotiation of Tamil