2025 Theses Master's

Resisting Repression: The Tamil Diaspora’s Rearticulation of Self-Determination

Karunagaran, Soumeya

This thesis examines the rearticulation of self-determination by the Tamil diaspora worldwide in the post-civil war period of Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, the state embedded laws, constitutional amendments, and surveillance practices that criminalized Tamil political aspirations. This framing was furthered by the global “War on Terror” as it associated Tamil self-determination with terrorism and undermined the movement both domestically and internationally. Although the armed struggle was destroyed in 2009, the diaspora has continued to sustain and redefine the Tamil struggle in exile.

I argue that repression did not end the self-determination movement but shifted its form. The Tamil diaspora has taken up the struggle through three main channels: remembrance, advocacy, and cultural visibility. Collective memory is preserved through commemorations like Mullivaikkal and Maaveerar Naal, which honor Tamil lives lost while resisting the erasure of this violent history. Transnational advocacy, including the creation of institutions such as the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam and lobbying within host states, situates Tamil claims within international frameworks of justice and accountability. Cultural resistance through language, education, and community practices makes Tamils visible in their countries of residence while also refusing the imposed identity of “Sri Lankan.”

By examining these practices, this thesis demonstrates that Tamil self-determination lives on after the nation-state. It shows how the diaspora reinvents self-determination as a principle of survival, dignity, and justice, and broadens its definition in response to repression and erasure.