What this document is
This study examines caste-based discrimination in Sri Lanka, a subject the authors argue is often overlooked because the country's caste systems, of which there are three running in parallel among the Sinhala, Sri Lankan Tamil and Indian Tamil communities, are less visible internationally than caste dynamics in India. The title's question, whether Sri Lankan society is genuinely without caste or merely blind to the caste discrimination that continues within it, sets up the study's central argument that concealment rather than absence best describes the situation.
The research was carried out by Kalinga Tudor Silva of the University of Peradeniya, P. P. Sivapragasam of the Human Development Organisation in Kandy, and Paramsothy Thanges of the University of Colombo, and it was published jointly by the International Dalit Solidarity Network, the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies and Kumaran Book House.
The publishers released the study in both English and Sinhala with the explicit aim of raising awareness among Sri Lankan policymakers and prompting government dialogue on an issue the authors say has received far less formal attention than caste discrimination elsewhere in South Asia.
Where to find it
Available from International Dalit Solidarity Network.