Ethnic Strife and Urban Neighbourhood Ties: Lessons Learnt from Low-income Dwellers in Colombo. Sri Lanka. Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Muller GMBH & CO. KG.

Abstract

This book on urban low-income neighborhoods mainly focuses on the 1983 riot affected areas in the city of Colombo. Various kind of information proved that, except the Tamil peop le living in the low-income neighborhoods, a significant number of the Tamils in the Colombo City were affected by the violence or harassed by mobs in July 1983. The study mainly focuses attention on the way in which the low-income people manage to live together despite ethnic differences in their neighborhoods. The ethnic strife in this small country has produced tension and stressful life among various social classes of residents in the city. However, the overall data and findings suggests that a urban neighborhood life has a variety of dimensions, and where these features of neighborhood – personal, social, physical, geographical, and institutional – offer strong inducements for involvement, community feelings will be high. There are several positive forces bringing social cohesion affecting friendly environment in the neighborhoods. The positive forms of social cohesion that identified in the research locations will help others to understand why these forms did not appear in the areas of violent and confl ict in other parts of the country. The lessons learnt from this study can be applied even to develop a national social integration among different ethnic communities in the country. The understanding of such neighborhood relationships will help to enrich future city or town planning, urban housing policies, relocate the families and achieving communal harmony.