Country: Sri Lanka

Group: Vannar

Team: Juwairiah Afridi (lead), Anthony Un, Ash Pessaran, Noelle Collings, Hannah Lux, Stefania Lavadao

Date Finalized: 03/20/2024

Content Warning: lethal violence, ethnocide

Approximate Time Period: 1950s-1980s

The Vannar caste is one of the five castes that constitute the Panchamer castes, considered low-ranking castes. In particular, according to the caste system, the Vannar caste by occupation, are considered washers. The ethnocide of the Vannar caste occurred in two instances.

In the first instance, during the 1950s to 1960s, the Vellalar caste persecuted the Panchamer castes, including the Vannar castes, to reinforce caste-based restrictions on the lower castes (Kuganathan, 2014). The persecution followed policies allowing individuals from the Panchamer castes, including the Vannar caste, to increase their social mobility and aptitude. Such policies included an equal seating action and greater access to wells, temples, and similar social institutions (Thanges, 2008). The Vellalah caste oppressed the Vannar caste through lethal violence and destroyed institutions including schools (Kuganathan, 2014). In the second instance, Sri Lankan policies promoting Sinhalese nationalism during the 1970s also affected the Tamil Vannar caste (Minority Rights, 2018). The issue of Sinhalese nationalism was rooted in the favoritism of the Tamil Sri Lankans during the British colonial rule (Minority Rights, 2018). In 1972, the Sri Lanka government constituted Sinhala as the official language of the country post-independence (Minority Rights, 2018). This policy prevented the Tamil-speaking population from seeking employment in government. This negated the programs that were created after the independence that aided the Vannar in receiving education. Due to their lower-caste ranking the policy made it unlikely for the Vannar to receive a civil employment position. Additionally, the standardization policy that the Sri Lankan government instituted in the 1970s further economically isolated the Vannar (Minority Rights, 2018). The standardization policy was created to allow the government to reach a quota in science disciplines for the Sinhalese, a discipline that was previously dominated by the Tamils. The heightened competition between the Sinhalese and the Tamils secluded the lower castes, including the Vannar, as they were an excluded minority from both the Tamils and the government. The systematic discrimination from the Sri Lankan government perpetuated the cycle that exists in the caste system, limiting the economic mobility of the Vannar. Thus, causing many of the Vannar caste to report to the occupational system as ‘washers’ or other low-income workers.

Based on the statistics in 2019, the Vannar population currently make up 1.0% of the Tamil caste population (Gamage et. al, 2019). In comparison the dominant caste, the Vellelah caste constitutes 50% of the total population (Gamage et. al, 2019). The statistics from 2019 reflect the effects of social and economic discrimination, as well as the ethnocide of the Vannar caste, due to their low ranking. There is limited information on the specifics of the Vannar caste beyond population statistics due to the nature of the Sri Lanka Civil War and the caste system. Data Quality for this case was rated a 2/3. The majority of the sources are peer-reviewed journal articles.

Sources

  1. Gamage, L., & Amarasinghe, S. W. (2019). Political Uprising of Tamil Youth in the 1970s: A Historical Analysis. http://ir.lib.ruh.ac.lk/bitstream/handle/iruor/8314/05%20-%20Gamage%2C%20L%20and%20Amarasinghe%2C%20SW.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
  1. Bremner, F. (2013). Recasting caste: war, displacement and transformations. International Journal of Ethnic & Social Studies, 2(1), 31-56. https://www.academia.edu/download/32423138/31-56.pdf
  1. Minority Rights Group (2018). Sri Lanka. https://minorityrights.org/country/sri-lanka/
  2. Thanges, P. (2008). Caste and social exclusion of IDPs in Jaffna society. http://192.248.16.117:8080/research/bitstream/70130/1102/1/P%20Thanges_Caste%20and%20Social%20Exclusion%20of%20IDPs%20in%20Jaffna%20Socie.pdf. https://hir.harvard.edu/sri-lankan-civil-war/
  1. Kuganathan, P. (2014). Social stratification in Jaffna: A survey of recent research on caste. Sociology Compass, 8(1), 78-88.