State in/security, ethnicity, and tourism: mapping tourist spaces and Sri Lankan identity politics

ABSTRACT This article follows suggestions from participants in interview and mapping exercises in Sri Lanka from December 2017-January 2018 that travellers and tourists to the country should visit the former war zones in the North and East of the country. These were the primary territories inflicted by the Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009) between the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. I extend these discussions to underlying identity and ethnic politics that caused these now tourist locations to be war zones in the first place, as well as reflect how the exclusionary politics of nationalism reflects continued postcolonial anxiety and the acceptance (or not) of Islamic identities within the contemporary state. Examining an underlying nexus of security, development, and ethnic politics in the Sri Lankan context, I argue that economic relations within its tourism industry indicates the anxiety, insecurity, and limitations of the nation-state more broadly.