Memories from the Margin – documenting wartime experiences of the Palankudi community
For the researchers behind the exhibition Memories from the Margin, which sought to highlight the post-war experience of the Palankudi community, each field visit was a poignant one. “To say this entire project has been life-changing in the way it has shaped us and our perspective under the general circumstances of the time is a bit of a cliché, but it truly did,” the co-curators tell us.
Memories from the Margin (8-12 August) focused on a community that has been largely ignored over decades. The Palankudi community is the coastal indigenous community that lives along the east coast of Sri Lanka. “The idea that there was a community of people who have not been factored in 13 years post-war was not something we could turn away from,” shared the co-curators.
The exhibition took place at the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) premises on Jawatte Road, Colombo 5 and was part of the Memories from the Margin project by the Social Cohesion thematic of CEPA, funded by the Think Tank Capacity Building grant implemented by the University of South Carolina Rule of Law Collaborative.
Co-curators of the exhibition, Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Thematic Senior Researcher and Thematic Lead Natasha Palanasuriya, Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Thematic Senior Researcher Thamindri Aluvihare, and Social Cohesion and Reconciliation Thematic Research Professional Shaneendra Amarasinghe, collectively said: “We have heard over and over that stories are powerful, but nothing prepares you for the moment someone shares a centuries-old untold story and entrusts you with taking it to the world.”
Here’s what they shared with The Sunday Morning Brunch.
Tell us about Memories From The Margin. How and why was the idea born?
Over the last year our team, the Social Cohesion thematic, has explored the nexus between youth identity and art in the context of transforming democratic spaces, as it pertains to social cohesion. We are constantly looking out for ways in which we can socialise the conversations on social cohesion and bridge the divide between academic and public discourse.
We had heard of the Palankudi community through one of our senior researchers and had hoped to work with them, particularly in documenting their narrative history and post-war experience. So when we saw the call for the grant, it seemed like a perfect fit.
This research titled ‘Memories from the Margin: The Voices of Coastal Indigenous Communities’ was a project designed to extend the conversation on post-war reconciliation to include marginalised voices, thereby contributing to an intersectional understanding of peace. The project was conducted by the CEPA and funded by the Think Tank Capacity Building initiative of the University of South Carolina Rule of Law Collaborative.
In bringing marginalised voices within the discourse of post-war reconciliation to the centre, this research project has worked with two Palankudi (indigenous) communities in Trincomalee – Santhosapuram and Verugal – to bring to light their history, traditions, culture, and their lives during the civil war and the post-war period.
There are two components of this research; the first is the exhibition and the second is the supplementing policy brief, ‘From the Margins of War: The Post War Experience of the Palankudi Community’.
What was your hope with this exhibition?
We brought the exhibition to Colombo to present the work of the Palankudi youth that we worked with and share their story with the rest of the world.
Choosing this medium for storytelling was a conscious choice – we hope that the interactive nature of the exhibition will help start the conversation on indigenous rights and also socialise the conversation on reconciliation as it pertains to issues brought up through the research, such as continued subjugation of the people living in the margins.
Why the Palankudi community?
The call was to include the voice of marginalised communities in the reconciliation narrative. During the conceptualising stage, when we were considering various margins and fault lines, the Palankudi community struck a chord because there had been no serious efforts to document their post-war experience or narrative history. That is the academic rationale.
As researchers working on reconciliation, there was a personal tether as well. The community had been ignored over decades by every institution and social security system in place. The idea that there was a community of people who have not been factored in, 13 years post-war, was not something we could turn away from. We hope we can continue to champion voices from the margin in our work going forward.
What was the process behind documenting the material that was used for this exhibition?
For this project, we worked with a group of 25 co-researchers from the youth in Santhosapuram and Verugal. On our second field visit, we trained our co-researchers on the methodology – taking photographs, conducting interviews, and documenting their narrative history (most importantly, getting consent forms signed). Photos taken thereafter were curated in the following weeks.
The methodology aims to empower the community to be co-researchers and co-owners of the research project. As such, all images taken are by the co-researchers from Verugal and Santhosapuram along with the narrative that anchors the image. The research team of the Social Cohesion thematic of CEPA – that’s the three of us – added a layer of analysis by triangulating the findings with existing literature and key concepts.
The exhibition thus put together was taken back to the community on 31 July 2022. They were held in both Santhoshapuram and Verugal with our co-researchers and village elders present. It was important to us that the final result was validated by our co-researchers first. We brought the exhibition to Colombo to present their work and share their story with the rest of the world.
What were the challenges you encountered in the process?
Having reflected on the process and projects that work closely with indigenous communities, we had our apprehensions regarding going to them with our conceptions of archiving their story. However, our first scoping visit in February 2022 was all the reassurance we needed, as the community welcomed both us and the idea of documenting their narrative history. While we have incorporated the methodology of participatory research also accounting for reflexivity, we are humbled by the trust our co-researchers have placed in us.
The second set of challenges came in the way of multiple crises that really affected us. From exchange rate fluctuations to import bans to fuel crises, each of these factors had an impact on the project and many times we had to revisit the blackboard to adapt. The challenge was to do it in a way that wouldn’t compromise the integrity or quality of the outputs as well as the trust the community had placed in us.
Through it all, we had the continued support of the community and the trust they placed in us made sure we saw the project through. In the most challenging moments, the good morning messages on our Verugal and Santhosapuram WhatsApp groups with our co-researchers saw us through.
Any favourite moments from all the work that went into preparing for this exhibition?
To say this entire project has been life-changing in the way it has shaped us and our perspective under the general circumstances of the time is a bit of a cliché, but it truly did. Working with these people who have suffered neglect, on their best days, by every institution and person of power that is responsible to be their caretakers, puts things into perspective.
Not to romanticise the depths of systemic neglect they have suffered and how it has compounded over the years, but they truly have such inimitably graceful resilience. Each field visit had a poignant moment for each of us. During the first field visit, we were quite apprehensive about how our idea would be received.
However, at the end of the visit, the community leader expressed his heartfelt gratitude and that was one of the most humbling moments. We have heard over and over that stories are powerful, but nothing prepares you for the moment someone shares a centuries-old untold story and entrusts you with taking it to the world.
The second field visit was equally heartwarming as the situation in the country was getting severe and we were concerned this would not be an interest, let alone a priority. During this visit, one of our co-researchers mentioned that she was not aware of her Palankudi roots until this project prompted that conversation. While the intergenerational nature of the methodology was by design, we did not foresee an impact to this extent.
The entire final visit was high on emotions. We were taking the emotion to the communities for the first time. We wanted their validation, but we also wanted to have done justice to their history.
I think we had a few days of writer’s block just over realising what a mammoth responsibility it was to put into words the narrative history of a community for the first time. Their validation was not only emotional, but it was also thoroughly encouraging.
But the favourite part of the exhibitions held in the communities was the pride when they saw the end results of their work and the candid conversations with the village elders when they invited us to move there for a few months for an immersive Tamil language course!
The trust-building over the last few months where we’ve gone from strangers to extended family is truly at the heart of our experience. We could possibly produce a book in response to this question alone, but for now, this would suffice.
With all that’s going on in Sri Lanka right now, how important do you think exhibitions of this nature are?
There are different vantage points we can look at this from. For us, we see this moment in our sociopolitical history as an extension of the conversation we should have on democracy and reconciliation as it pertains to our very particular ground realities. Along with the crisis, there is also an awakening of the civic consciousness and a renegotiation of the social contract that is happening.
In our opinion, it is critical that we keep the dialogue on reconciliation at the forefront of this. Then the issue becomes how we go about doing that. This is where art comes in. As we said before, choosing the medium was a conscious choice. It was meant to be an immersive experience for our co-researchers, but also the intention was to make the conversation more accessible as art does.
We have tackled some heavy topics from militarisation to buddhisation, but what will draw you to that conversation is the beautiful scenery of the Sirukali Lagoon. These are not pleasant topics or easy conversations, but these are conversations that need to be had. So an exhibition was our way of making it more accessible and sociable.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Whilst the exhibition has now concluded, we hope to continue to find opportunities to raise awareness about the Palankudi identity and the issues they face in the post-war era so that at least incremental changes can be made to institutionally recognise them as an indigenous community, thus preserving their history and giving them the dignity and respect they deserve.