Mapping the Contested Landscapes and Human Vulnerability: Land, Memory, and Identity in Sri Lankan Poetry

Abstract

Sri Lanka is a multi-communal, multi-ethnic, and multi-lingual nation which has experienced recurring ethnic conflicts and riots since 1948. Political conflicts and contested landscapes severely degrade human health physically and psychologically. This study investigates how postcolonial Sri Lankan poetry negotiates the intertwined themes of land, human conflicts, ethnicity and identity within a socio-political and cultural realm undersigned by colonial legacies, civil conflict, migration, and globalization. Drawing on postcolonial theory, particularly the works of Edward Said, Stuart Hall, and Homi K. Bhabha, the study analyses selected poems by Jean Arasanayagam, Vivimarie VanderPoorten, and Vidyan Ravinthiran. Through close textual analysis, the article argues that land in Sri Lankan poetry functions not only as a natural geographical setting but as a symbolic terrain shaped by colonial history, civil war, displacement, and cultural memory. The poetic landscape becomes a site where power relations, historical dispossession, cultural memory, and hybrid identities are articulated and contested. By foregrounding land as a palimpsest of violence, memory, and belonging, the article highlights how postcolonial Sri Lankan poets envision possibilities of shared identity while acknowledging enduring fractures within the nation.