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Suicide and the morality of kinship in Sri Lanka

Widger, Tom

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Abstract

Ethnographic research amongst Sinhala Buddhists in community and clinical settings in the Madampe Division, northwest Sri Lanka, suggests that local understandings and practices of suicidal behaviour reflect the kinship structure. In particular, acts of self-harm and self-inflicted death arise in response to the breaking of core kinship rights, duties and obligations, or as a challenge to inflexibility or contradictions within the system. In either case, the morality of kinship is closely associated with the causes of suicidal behaviour, as the ‘inevitability’ or ‘evitability’ of kin relationships is negotiated and lived in practice. This article analyses how local political economies give rise to particular kinship and moral conditions, with special attention paid to those between household (gē) members and brothers-in-law (massinā).

Citation

Widger, T. (2012). Suicide and the morality of kinship in Sri Lanka. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 46(1-2), 83-116. https://doi.org/10.1177/006996671104600205

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Feb 1, 2012
Deposit Date Oct 17, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 11, 2015
Journal Contributions to Indian Sociology
Print ISSN 0069-9667
Electronic ISSN 0973-0648
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 46
Issue 1-2
Pages 83-116
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/006996671104600205
Keywords Suicide, Kinship, Morality, Sri Lanka.
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1421652

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Copyright Statement
Widger, Tom (2012). Suicide and the morality of kinship in Sri Lanka. Contributions to Indian Sociology 46(1-2): 83-116. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.






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