Contested identities of indigenous people:Indigenization or integration of the Veddas in

Sri Lanka

Chamila T. Attanapola1 and Ragnhild Lund2

1Administration, Faculty of Humanities, Norwegian University of Science and Technology2Department of Geography, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Correspondence: Chamila T. Attanapola (email: chamila.attanapola@ntnu.no)

Traditionally, the identity of indigenous people was defined in relation to closeness to nature and

use of wildlife resources. Such an identity has been put under pressure due to development

programmes, neo-liberal policies and increasing market economy, forcing these people to redefine

their identity within new socio-economic and geopolitical contexts. Based on ethnographic

research, the situation of the Vedda people in Sri Lanka is analysed. First, we unravel how they

define their identity through a ‘meaningful relationship’ with the place in which they used to live

prior to their displacement because of a large scale development project. Second, we analyse how

the Veddas (re-)negotiate their identity in a context of limited access to land, lack of education,

unemployment, and an increasing demand for indigenous tourism. It is found that the Veddas

redefine their identity by pursuing two survival strategies: tourist development and

re-indigenization, and integration into mainstream Sinhalese society. Both strategies pose chal-

lenges and opportunities.

Keywords: indigenous identity, re-indigenization, integration, Sri Lanka, Vedda

Introduction

Indigenous people have been historically linked to land as their main source of survivaland as an essential element in the preservation of their culture and distinctive identities.Indigenous people are known variously as ethnic groups, ethnic minorities, and in thecase of South Asia, adivasi. They are normally associated with a definite geographicalarea, and have a distinctive culture that includes a wide spectrum of ethnic ways of life,including language, customs, traditions and religious beliefs. They are often character-ized by having livelihoods that are closely connected to nature, lower levels of educationand technological development, and being less integrated into the market economy.However, indigenous people are not monoliths and their levels of deprivation andintegration with mainstream society vary greatly (World Bank, 2010). As they developtheir identities based on meaningful relationships with land and the places in whichthey dwell, work on and move about in during everyday life (Bolanos, 2011), itbecomes necessary for them to redefine their identities when their relationship with theland is disturbed (Relph, 1976; Bhabha, 1994; Rose, 1995).

The strong perceptions of the ethnic identities of indigenous people are not neces-sarily respected or recognized by state administrations, which may try to play down thedifferences in order to ‘integrate’ them into mainstream society (Pholsena &Banomyong, 2004). Even though indigenous people are marked by their distinctiveculture, often the contextualized and nuanced differences have not been taken intoconsideration in some of the national studies on indigenous people. Rather, they arepresented as exotic (especially women) or blamed for being backward. The identities

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doi:10.1111/sjtg.12022

Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 34 (2013) 172–187

© 2013 The Authors

Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography © 2013 Department of Geography, National University of Singapore and

Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd

and culture of indigenous people can thus be an object of exotification and commer-cialization, rendering their communities as ‘living museums’ (Xu & Salas, 2003).

Recently, a discourse has emerged on how ‘indigenous’ has become a marker ofstrategic importance for people to justify their claims to their rights, as well as claimingan identity with a new strategic meaning (Bijoy, 1993; Rao, 2003; Bauer, 2010; Idrus,2010; Bolanos, 2011; Lund & Panda, 2011). Some scholars have termed the ability ofindigenous people to strategize on their ethnicity ‘professional primitivism’ (Bastin,2003), referring to activities whereby they make a living from their cultural identity,such as through tourism. This generally happens in areas where indigenous people havebeen denied their access to ancestral lands and resources, as has been documented forall continents (Bauer, 2010; Erazo, 2010).

In this article we discuss the ability of indigenous people to (re)define their culturalidentity as part of a survival strategy. We aim to unravel how they strategize to surviveby claiming identity as Veddas in marginalized positions. When previously culturallydefined boundaries of land have become politically contested territories due to coloni-zation, modernization, neo-liberal policies and market adjustments, their practices andidentities change. The Veddas in Sri Lanka have faced deteriorating livelihoods andrelative deprivation compared to dominant ethnic groups in the country throughouthistory, and particularly during the twentieth century when large-scale irrigation,colonization schemes and conservation projects were implemented (Lund, 2000; 2003).We ask how the Veddas themselves define and redefine their identity within a rapidlychanging socio-economic and geopolitical context, which play a decisive role in thisprocess, and also how important the Veddas’ ability is to (re)negotiate their culturalidentity as part of a survival strategy.

By describing the case of the Vedda communities in two villages, Dambane andHenanigala South,1 we will first present how indigenous groups, including the Veddas,define their identities through a ‘meaningful relationship’ with the place in which theyused to live. A brief methodological section follows, before we describe how indigenouspeople have been understood in Sri Lanka and how the Veddas themselves perceivetheir identity. The empirical investigation of the two villages shows that they handletheir identity differently. In Dambane, Veddas (re)negotiate their cultural identitythrough ‘professional primitivism’, which is understood as encompassing processes ofre-indigenization. In Henanigala South, Veddas attempt to integrate into mainstreamsociety, but with great difficulty as they are marginalized in almost every aspect of theirlives.

Identity – re-indigenization through professional primitivism or integration

Identity is not only changeable over time and through space but is also potentiallyvoluntaristic in that individuals may work out new forms of identification and differ-entiation within and against the social relations of their everyday lives (Katz, 2003).According to Pratt (1998), a place-based identity results when powerful meanings ofthe landscape influence people to the extent that their behaviours and self-identity ortheir collective group belonging become equated with a particular locale. Processesof colonization and modernization have changed the habitats and daily lifestyles ofindigenous people and marginalized them in many societies. They have becomepoorer and landless, their traditional culture is under threat of becoming extinct(Lund, 2003), and they are forced to adopt new livelihoods and lifestyles in order tosurvive.

Contested identities and professional primitivism of Veddas 173

Several scholars have documented how indigenous people transform or strategizeon their identity. Scott’s (2009) seminal study on indigenous people in Southeast Asiaexplains the capabilities of indigenous people and documents that they always haveknown how to strategize on their identity. He argues that highland indigenous peoplesin Southeast Asia have been able to efficiently manage their linguistic variety, swiddenagriculture and ethnic identity by avoiding state control over agriculture and labourthroughout history.

Tooker’s (2004) study of Akha people in northern Thailand also shows that duringthe 1980s, increased capitalist penetration, including the introduction of cash cropproduction and wage labour in agriculture, establishment of settlements and urban-ization, media and new political structures, have changed their everyday practices andlivelihoods. Akha identity is presented as hybrid, consisting of elements of Christianity,mainstream Thai culture and political structure, and to some extent traditional Akhaethnic cultural practices that are relegated only to special occasions and social domainsand observable in dress styles, ritual practices and language use. Similarly, Escobar(1995) points out that many traditional cultures survive through their transformativeengagement in ‘modernity’ in Latin America. Indigenous people recognize the mar-keting opportunities and value of their culture rather than perceiving them as authen-tic survival from their past. Such adaptation to modernity creates a new senseof indigenous identity, which is a combination of the traditional and the modern.Indigenous people reinsert traditional cultural elements into a new setting (re-indigenization). By exploring the case of the Ecuadorian coastal village Macaboa,Bauer (2010) studied how an indigenous community was successful in resisting priva-tization of land by emphasizing their indigenous identity through rights to land. Suchre-indigenization was necessary to mobilize the community and to convince the stateof the community’s right to access their land and maintain their livelihoods. Other-wise, the community’s struggle against capitalist land buyers and the state would justbe articulated as a class struggle alone, which cannot be won in an era when capitalismand neoliberal policies dominate every aspect of people’s everyday life. Thus, anemphasis on indigenousness becomes important. Similarly, studies of BrazilianAmazon Ribeirinho people (Bolanos, 2011), Alaskan Natives (Dombrowski, 2007),Indian adivasi people (Rao, 2003; Lund & Panda, 2011) and Australian aboriginals(Tonkinson, 2007) show that re-indigenization is a strategy to claim indigenousrights.

The Veddas in Sri Lanka have been perceived as the ‘others’ since colonial times. Intheir search for ‘true Veddas’ in Ceylon, anthropologists Charles Gabriel and BrendaZara Seligmann came across ‘professional primitive men’ who presented themselves asVeddas (Bastin, 2003). Recently, wealthy people’s desire to experience exotic places andpeople, authentic cultures, and search for adventure have increased the demand forindigenous culture; hence, indigenousness has obtained a market value. Sri Lankapromotes ecotourism (also called indigenous tourism, ethnic tourism) as a developmentstrategy, which allows tourists to have exotic cultural experiences through visitinghistorical and ethnic villages, minority homes, engaging in ethnic events and festivals,watching traditional dances or ceremonies, or just shopping for ethnic handicrafts(Assenov & Ratnayake, 2008; Yang et al., 2008). When traditional artefacts and access tothe practices of everyday life of people are sold, indigenous identity is produced andconsumed as a commodity (Guneratne, 2001; Hunter, 2011; Yang, 2011). As profes-sional primitivism has become a way to earn a living, indigenous people continue to liveas ‘primitive’, ‘backward’ and ‘exotic’ (Bastin, 2003; Yang, 2011).

174 Chamila T. Attanapola and Ragnhild Lund

Against this background, we use the concept ‘professional primitivism’ about Veddaswho live in the traditional way and engage in income generating activities for touristpurposes. With reference to the village which has actively engaged in tourism,Dambane, we ask whether professional primitivism is voluntary or a must within thesocio-economic and political system they live in. This means that they re-indigenizetheir culture by returning to traditional ways of life and embrace traditional culturalidentity in the new market economy. Alternatively, as in Henanigala South, which is arelatively new settlement, people respond to the transformations brought about byprocesses of modernity and the new market economy by trying to co-opt to the waysand means of majority ethnic groups. Such an approach leads to cultural hybridization,which may be seen as a response and an adaptation to modernity by encompassing bothmodern and traditional ways of life.

Researching the Veddas

This article is primarily based on information gained during field visits to Dambane andHenanigala South in February 2011. The day before our visit, a leading Sri LankanNewspaper carried a story with the headline ‘Veddahs reduced to research objects!’(The Island, 2011). The article described the extreme poverty and marginalization ofthe Vedda community in Henanigala South, a part of Mahaweli development area. Wewere somewhat disinclined to revisit this village after reading the article because wedid not want to intrude on the lives of the Veddas by questioning them about sensitiveissues. However, during earlier visits (1991, 1999, 2003, 2006), one of the authors haddeveloped a good rapport with the Vedda chief and people, and found that they werevery interested in giving voice to their story of displacement (Lund, 2000; 2003).Hence, we decided to visit the two Vedda communities, to collect their narrativesabout their identity within the present sociocultural and geopolitical environment inSri Lanka.

Dambane and Henanigala South villages are located 26 km apart in Uva Province inSri Lanka, c. 200 km east of Colombo (Figure 1). At present there are about 350 familiesliving in Dambane village who identify themselves as Veddas (pers. comm., Vedda chief,Dambane, 21 February 2011). The families live under the guidance of their chief. InHenanigala South there are about 500 families (The Island, 2011). Compared to the restof the population in the country, the Veddas are economically very poor and live underharsh conditions without access to basic needs such as clean water, roads and properhousing.

During our visit in 2011, we conducted informal and in-depth interviews in com-bination with observations and photography. In addition to talking informally withseveral villagers in both the communities, we formally interviewed the paramountVedda chief who resides in Dambane and seven villagers there (three young men, eldestson of the chief, the daughter of the chief who lived in a neighboring village and twoother Vedda women). In Henanigala South, we interviewed a group of senior elders, theold and new chief, and seven other villagers (three young women and four men,including the grandson of Henanigala South’s old chief).

The re-visit provided the opportunity to build on old relationships. Young membersof the two Vedda communities volunteered to take us around their villages, showed us‘important’ places and invited us to their homes for interview. Through observations itwas possible to gain insights into how tourist practices in Dambane were organizedand how the Vedda identity was used in this regard. Observations and interviews in

Contested identities and professional primitivism of Veddas 175

Henanigala South provided insights into recent changes, further marginalization anddeprivations caused by lack of access to land and unemployment. Further, earlierresearch documents, related newspaper articles, books and websites were analysed toprovide background information for this article.

In this paper, we give some emphasis to the role of the paramount chief inDambane to ‘protect indigenous cultural identity’ because he represents the officialvoice of Veddas, and particularly that of those who engage in tourism. The Dambanechief represents the indigenous people of the country in national and internationalevents, and Dambane village has become known as the major Vedda village eventhough Vedda communities exist in several parts of the country. Therefore, the viewsof the Dambane chief are relevant to the issues we analyse. However we are awareof his powerful position to achieve his goals, particularly to protect the Vedda culturalidentity in Dambane. His opinions do not necessarily represent those of Veddas whoengage in other income generating activities. Furthermore, in Dambane we were ableto interview only those who were involved in tourism and had positive experiencesabout it. Recruiting participants who engaged in other activities was a methodologicalchallenge for three reasons. First, the Veddas who had migrated were unavailable forinterviews, and second, visitors were not allowed to contact villagers who did notengage in tourism. Third, as researchers, we were less powerful than the chief andhad to abide by the rules. On one occasion we witnessed his reactions towards anunwelcome researcher who was asked to leave the village. Hence, we were cautiousnot to contact people outside the areas accessible to visitors in Dambane. To managethese ethical and methodological issues we instead included views and experiences ofHenanigala South Veddas, who had independent livelihoods from Dambane and alsohad critical views on the role of the Dambane chief as official representative of theVeddas.

Figure 1 Map of Sri Lanka and study area

176 Chamila T. Attanapola and Ragnhild Lund

The indigenous inhabitants of Sri Lanka

The Veddas in Sri Lanka fit the World Bank’s (2010) definition of indigenous people.The existence of the Veddas as indigenous people was documented as early as theseventeenth century (Knox, 1681), and identified as Veddas by the Sinhalese peopleand as Vedainam by the Tamil people (Bastin, 2003). Until the 1990s, academic andpopular literature and official documents used the term Vedda. After 1993, which theUN designated the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People, the officialterm was changed from Vedda to adivasi. The Veddas identify themselves as Wan-niyelatto, ‘the people of the forest’ (Living Heritage Network, 2011). However, globalinstitutions’ recognition of indigenous rights and changing the formal name fromVedda to adivasi has had a positive effect on the image of the Veddas: The termadivasi means ‘original inhabitant’ and has positive connotations. Thus, the term waseasily adopted by Veddas and the rest of Sri Lankan society.2 Even though the indig-enousness of the Veddas is not in question, their identity is constantly challengedbecause their traditional livelihoods and lifestyles have been threatened throughouthistory.

As recommended by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF),the post-independence Sri Lankan governments have adopted a modernization strategyto develop the country through agricultural modernization and industrialization. Insuch a modernization paradigm, traditions and local knowledge are understood asindicative of backwardness and underdevelopment (Lakshman, 1997). Hence, disap-pearance of those elements from society, including indigenous people, was regarded asan irreversible and desirable process.

In 1977, the Sri Lankan government initiated a large-scale irrigation project knownas the Mahaweli Development Project, which covered one-third of the country’s landarea. Large forested areas were cleared for irrigation and colonization (Lund, 2000;2003). Still, the Veddas had access to 145 450 acres (588.6 km2) of forest for hunter-gatherer activities. However, in 1983, the government declared this area part of theMaduru Oya National Park and consequently, resettlement of Vedda communitieswhich were located within the forest was deemed ‘necessary’. Five traditional Veddavillages were recommended to be relocated into newly established resettlements, underthe Mahaweli System C. There, the Veddas were supposed to engage in agriculturalactivities and become successful paddy farmers by abandoning their hunter-gatherertradition. During the period 1982–84, the resettled people were given land, homesteadplots and subsidies for three years (Lund, 2000; 2003). Henanigala South is one suchsettlement.

Although almost all of the Veddas were successfully moved out of their traditionalhomeland, their chief, Thisahami, and several other families in one village, Dambane,refused to move. Successive governments allowed the families to live in the old villageuntil the chief’s death, but even after his death in 1998 the families who had allied withhim continued to live in Dambane, led by his son, Uru Warige Wanniya. Their mobilityand resource use in the traditional forest land have since then become significantlyrestricted and people have had to find new livelihoods.

Memory and collective identity as Wanniyelatto

During our interviews, old Veddas from both Dambane and Henanigala South talkedenthusiastically about their ‘good and peaceful life in the forest’. The 105-year-old chief

Contested identities and professional primitivism of Veddas 177

in Henanigala South recalled ‘the jungle, the water, streams, hills and the food. How Ihunted, honey and flowers. These are in my mind all the time. We had a good life in theforest.’ They seemed to romanticize the life in the forest as simple and sustainable. Thatlife was also free from other concerns such as poverty, sicknesses or criminal behaviour,which have become prevalent in the daily life of Henanigala South Veddas, particularly.People identify their limited access to jungles in the present village as the main cause oftheir destitute conditions.

According to Vedda chief in Dambane, even though most of their traditions are nowonly memories of their parents’ practices and experiences of their ancestors, the forestis still a place which remains powerfully important in framing and sustaining thecollective identity of Vedda people as ‘people of the forest’. For them, life in the forestdoes not imply wilderness, backwardness or isolation, but signifies a simple and peacefulexistence:

Kele-pojje [The forest] is our home. Forest and the Wanniyelatto are not two things that exist

separately. We are interdependent and coexist. Forest provided us what we need – food, water

and shelter – and we protected the forest. Our customs and religion, and our songs and dances

all are based on and about the forest. We cannot imagine a life of Wanniyelatto without forest.

If we intend to protect our culture and identity, we must protect the forest (pers. comm., Vedda

chief, Dambane, 21 February 2011).

Thus, powerful meanings of the forest have influenced the Veddas to the extent thattheir behaviour and identity as individual Veddas and belonging to an adivasi group areequated with a particular locale. However, the chief in Dambane does not romanticizetheir relationship with the forest. Instead he recognizes the need to protect the Veddas’cultural identity by emphasizing their traditional relationship with the forest whilefinding new means of living. Below, we present how national development programmesset the foundation that destroyed traditional livelihood practices and hence their tradi-tional identity.

Commodification of cultural identity – the case of Dambane

At present, the livelihoods of those living in the Vedda community in Dambane arebased on permanent agriculture. At the time of the interview only 12 people haveidentity cards which allow them to enter the Maduru Oya National Park to collect fruits,yams and honey from the forest. Since the government promoted ecotourism in 2007,several private ventures have organized camps in Vedda villages, where visitors areshown how to collect honey and hunt, and can attend displays of dancing and rituals.Dambane has become one of the ecotourist attractions in the country. According to thechief, approximately 40 families in Dambane have chosen to live as traditional Wan-niyelatto in order to protect their cultural identity by engaging in organized tourism,such as by working as tour guides, cultural performers, including traditional dancers,singers, drummers and traditional medicine practitioners, and as vendors. In addition toperforming for tourists visiting the village, a dance group consisting of young Veddasgives public performances of traditional dances and songs all over the country. They areoften invited to perform at government functions.

Evidences of the Veddas’ attempts to gain a livelihood by promoting their culturalidentity were observed in the village. At the junction where the Mahiyangana-Batticaloa road turns towards Dambane village, we saw several indigenous men sittingunder a tree in the shade. Our guide informed that they were waiting for tourist buses.

178 Chamila T. Attanapola and Ragnhild Lund

He introduced us to the eldest son of the Vedda chief, who was wearing the traditionalVedda dress: a loincloth, an axe on his right shoulder, a piece of cloth on his left shoulderand a small textile bag (containing betel) in one hand. On the previous day our guidehad informed the Vedda about our visit by mobile phone.

When we had driven along this road during earlier visits it had been bustling withactivity: women were selling tea and honey in small cadjan huts (huts built from wovencoco palm leaves) and we were approached by young and old Veddas who wanted to beour guide or sell items to us whenever we stopped. By comparison, in 2011 the roadseemed quiet because by then all tourist traffic was directed to the centre of the village.Today, the main road leads to the Adivasi Cultural Centre, which was established in2009 with financial assistance from the Ministry of National Heritage and CulturalAffairs. We observed several Vedda men and women around the Adivasi CulturalCentre, dressed in their traditional clothes, and selling items such as honey and medici-nal plants collected from the forest and also ornaments made out of beads and wood. Anold Vedda woman said:

We have permission from Wanniyelatto [chief] to sell here. I sell items such as necklaces and

baskets to foreign tourists. I earn more money by selling to foreign tourists. I offer higher price

for them, they buy our items without bargaining. (Local) tourists also buy our things. They do

not bargain either. Those visitors do not bother us. I think it is because they respect our chief

very much (pers. comm., 74-year-old woman, vendor, Dambane, 22 February 2011).

As tourism grows, the demand for ‘indigenous’ items increases. However, traditionalVedda people do not have many marketable items, only items collected from the forestsuch as honey, medicinal plants, and bows and arrows. Recently, women have beenencouraged to learn activities that are new to them, such as producing items made fromforest products and weaving clothes. Several families, including the village chief’s sons,are engaged in producing ornaments as an income generating activity. A newly estab-lished weaving centre provides income generating opportunities for several youngwomen in the village. Women receive threads from non-governmental organizations toweave cloth, which they sell to tourists. Further into the forest, an outdoor theatre hasbeen constructed. According to a young Vedda informant, only paying tourists, whosevisits are organized by tourist agents, have access to the theatre to watch traditionaldancing and listen to traditional songs. Special guests such as government representa-tives are also entertained at the theatre.

The chief recognizes that the changes happening around him may be destructive tothe Veddas traditional identity as ‘people of the forest’, but accepts them as inevitable.He is determined to ‘go with the flow’ and take advantage of the change in order tosurvive in the market oriented society, but at the same time he is concerned about theneed to prevent the cultural identity of the Veddas from being destroyed. He said, ‘If wewant to protect our identity as people of the forest, we must maintain our traditionallifestyles relating to the forest.’ The chief sees the tourism as the way to protect theirculture and identity – which include language, clan names, customs, rituals, songs anddances related to religion, hunting and gathering, traditional farming, health and medi-cine, and child birth and burial ceremonies – by practising them as livelihoods. In doingso, the Vedda chief encourages members of the young generation to maintain theirtraditions.

Two of the three men we interviewed (between 16–20 years old) had previouslyworked outside Dambane as casual labourers in construction sites. After a while, theyreturned home to pursue their life as traditional Wanniyelatto since they preferred ‘the

Contested identities and professional primitivism of Veddas 179

peaceful environment and the relaxed lifestyle in the village to a chaotic lifestyle basedon money in other areas’. Further they told us that ‘in the village, we can live as ourancestors did and protect our culture’. They now engage in traditional farming andcollecting forest items for sale. The third young man who has never lived outsideDambane said:

I am an active dancer of the traditional dancing group. I travel with the group all the time. I have

been to Colombo a number of times. I receive money when I perform at arrangements outside

the village and for the tourists . . . I do not want to work outside village [as a casual worker]. I

like the life in the forest. I engage in traditional dancing because it is an important part of

Wanniyelatto’s culture. Performing traditional dancing is one way of protecting our cultural

identity (pers. comm., 18-year-old man, traditional dancer, Dambane, 22 February 2011).

Young men are involved in tourism as traditional dancers, guides and medicinesellers. They always speak the Vedda language and wear only traditional loin cloths.They demonstrate that they live as traditional Veddas because it is their choice. None ofthem mentioned ‘engaging in tourist activities’ when we asked about their livelihoods.They identify traditional paddy and chena farming and collecting honey and medicinalplants for sale as their livelihoods. The two men who had experienced an alternativeway of life felt ‘out of place’ when they were engaged in non-traditional work tasks, andparticularly they missed the living environment near the forest. Other young men toosaid that they never intended to work outside the village since they loved the traditionalway of life. These men were satisfied with the choice they made – (returning to) live astraditional Veddas – not only because they felt ‘in-place’ by living closer to the forest andengaging in traditional activities, but also because it had increased their self-respect, asthey could contribute to protect their culture by practising traditional activities withintourism. Hence, professional primitivism may be perceived as a voluntary act whichenables people to maintain their traditional habitat.

During our visit to Dambane we witnessed an efficient paramount chief, whonegotiated with the authorities and other outsiders to protect their cultural identity byoffering experiences of their culture to those who are willing to pay. Upon arrival inDambane, we first visited the chief’s hut, since it was appropriate to obtain permissionfrom him before we could wander around the village and talk to the villagers. The chiefgreeted us politely and asked us to come back the following day, because, he explained,‘today the Minister of Cultural Affairs is visiting the village, and I am in a hurry to attendthe welcome ceremony at the Cultural Centre’. We also went to the Adivasi CulturalCentre where a large number of local and foreign tourists had gathered. The Veddaswere visible in the crowd because they were wearing the traditional dress. We watchedthe chief accompany the minister and several local politicians. A group of Veddaswelcomed the honoured guests by performing traditional dances and playing traditionalVedda rhythms. Several TV and newspaper journalists covered the event, which wasbroadcasted as the news highlight of the day.

The Veddas in Dambane have thus become an important part of Sri Lanka’s heritage,and the chief has gained a symbolic value as the leader of the country’s indigenouspeople and an honoured figure in the Vedda community. The chief commented:

Until recently we were ignored by the governments. It is after 1993, when the international

community [the UN] declared the Adivasi Year that the government began to show concern for

us. Actually, they pretended to be concerned because the international community asked the

governments to do so (pers. comm., Vedda chief, Dambane, 21 February 2011).

180 Chamila T. Attanapola and Ragnhild Lund

According to the chief, he has a good relationship with the president. His people areoften invited to attend government functions as performers and also as special guests,and consequently media coverage increased their visibility. Further, following the estab-lishment of the Adivasi Cultural Centre in 2009, an Indigenous Medicine Centre wasestablished in June 2011 to protect indigenous medicine and to promote it as an incomesource.

However, although the chief had opened the village to local and foreign tourists inorder to gain an income, he protected his people from being exposed to mass commodi-fication. Tourists are allowed to wander only in limited areas of Dambane village. Ingeneral, local visitors start their tour at the Adivasi Cultural Centre. After visiting themuseum, they walk a short distance along a path through the forest to the veranda ofthe chief’s hut. Since our last visit, the chief’s hut has been extended by the addition ofa large veranda, on which several ornaments made of wood and seeds, bottles of honey,and some other herbal preparations for sale are displayed. Photos of Veddas and chiefsengaging in different public activities are hanging on the wall. Visitors can look at thephotographs and possibly chat with and take a photograph of the chief. Thereafter, theycan walk through the forest to see the place where dances are performed and thenreturn to the cultural centre, where they can buy ornaments, honey and herbal medi-cines from Vedda vendors. Hence, when visitors wander around the village, they are notable to observe everyday life because the villagers’ private life is properly protected. Thechief claimed that he feels like a ‘monkey in a cage’ when visitors looked at him; for thisreason he intended to prevent his people from feeling the same way. Visitors mayencounter young boys who offer to sing or dance for money, but according to ourinformants young Wanniyelatto are advised not to bother visitors by asking for money.The chief said:

Young boys see the opportunity to earn money by singing traditional songs and dancing for

visitors. This has both positive and negative effects. Young men are eager to learn traditional

songs and dances. Thus, culture is protected through performing it, which is a positive impact.

Unfortunately, when young men have access to money it leads to self-destruction by becoming

addicted to alcohol and smoking. Therefore, tourists should not give money to young people

(pers. comm., Vedda chief, Dambane, 21 February 2011).

Even though Vedda children go to school, dropping out is common, particularlyamong boys who engage in tourism. They said, ‘We dropped out of school in order toprotect our culture: to learn traditional dance and songs and being a part of dancinggroup.’ According to them, formal education is not part of their culture and does nothelp them in sustaining their culture. Thus, it may be argued that the chief of Dambaneeffectively controls his people, yet he is constantly balancing the consideration for ownculture with ‘selling out’ to the wider world (tourists and authorities):

[P]eople have accused Veddas for changing their culture; Veddas sell the indigenous traditions

and heritage’. They don’t talk about why we have to sell our traditions and who were behind

the destruction of our culture . . . . . . . . Even though most of the [local] tourists come just

to see us and enjoy, when we show our culture to them, they learn something about us and

they realize that we still exist. In that way we manage to protect our identity (pers. comm.,

Vedda chief, Dambane, 21 February 2011).

This quotation highlights an emerging paradox that people have to live with: peoplecan earn a living from tourism, and hence ‘sell’ their identity, but in doing so thesignificance of their traditional culture is changing.

Contested identities and professional primitivism of Veddas 181

Identity in a flux – Henanigala South

Resettlement from traditional home lands to Henanigala South in the Mahaweli regionhas significant impacts on identities of this Vedda community. First, the Veddas couldnot throw away their hunting tools and master the new tools and technologies requiredto become successful paddy farmers as the government and they themselves expected(Stegeborn, 1993; Lund, 2003), as they did not have the knowledge to engage inagricultural activities like the majority population. Gradually, due to misfortune, bribesand bailouts, they lost their land to the majority population who were experiencedfarmers. Second, Henanigala South Veddas do not have access to the forest as they werepromised by the authorities upon resettlement. Instead, the government established theMaduru Oya National Park on the Veddas’ traditional land and prohibited people fromentering the area to hunt and collect honey, yams, medicinal plants and other forestitems. Their traditional livelihoods became stunted. One man said:

When we enter into the jungle for pick a bee hive, dig yams, pick fruits or to fish, the Wild Life

officers arrest us. The fine is between LKR 24 000–40 000 (pers. comm., 58-year-old man,

casual labourer, Henanigala South, 25 February 2011).

Under this new geopolitical structure, the Veddas’ traditional livelihood activitieswere regarded as criminal, making the Veddas feel out of place. Describing their eco-nomic situation, another man said:

Almost all the families in this village lost their land; they had to sell land due to illness in the

family or inability to carry out the paddy farming. Land became gradually owned by the rich

Sinhalese farmers or leased to them to bail out arrested family members (pers. comm.,

64-year-old man, casual labourer, Henanigala South, 25 February 2011).

Consequently, at present, most Veddas work as seasonal workers in paddy farmswhich they owned previously. The situation of the second and the third generation ofHenanigala South Veddas is additionally worsened by the fact that they are not entitledto any land to build a house or to cultivate paddy. Due to large family sizes, not everychild inherits a piece of land from their parents. Thus married couples build their hutson vacant land on the hill behind the village, where there are no roads, electricity orwater available. People experience that politicians who are supposed to assist them ingaining land entitlements and improving conditions of the village do not care aboutthese issues in between elections.

Under these circumstances the landless, poor and uneducated new generation ofHenanigala South Veddas have to diversify their livelihood activities to survive. Today,in addition to working as seasonal workers in nearby paddy fields, most of the youngmen migrate to other parts of the country to work as manual labourers on road andbuilding construction sites. Young women find work in factories while some havemigrated to the Middle East to find employment as domestic workers. However, not allwomen have such opportunities. One woman said:

For women who are illiterate it is impossible to get a job in a garment factory or work in the

Middle East. Both my sisters have studied up to ninth grade. So they could go abroad. I have

never been to a school because we [the elderly children] had to stay at home to look after

younger siblings while our parents were working. Thus now, I do not have the chance to earn a

better income (pers. comm., 26-year-old woman, casual labourer, Henanigala South, 26

February 2011).

182 Chamila T. Attanapola and Ragnhild Lund

Hard manual seasonal work in paddy fields and a nearby coconut estate are theincome generating sources for these women. Migration is not an easy choice either asVeddas have had to change their identity by changing their clothing and hair stylesaccording to the popular culture, speaking Sinhalese and gradually forgetting theirlanguage. Some have even changed their clan name in order to avoid discriminationbased on derogatory perceptions of their ethnic identity. However, the older generationstill wishes to maintain the identity of Wanniyelatto. An old Vedda said:

It is difficult to maintain our traditional practices in Henanigala South. Because of restrictions

we cannot practise hunter-gathering. But we try to maintain our language, traditional dances

and songs (pers. comm., 78-year-old man, casual labourer, Henanigala South, 25 February

2011).

Some men have attempted to form a traditional dance group, hoping to gain incomethrough performing upon invitation by outside people. However, they found it difficultto practise this as a livelihood since they do not have the necessary facilities. One youngman said:

I assume that the outside villagers do not know that adivasi people exist in this village. Our

culture is not visual enough. In Dambane they have the jungle, museum, dancing etc. They can

show the culture, thus culture maintains. (pers. comm., 27-year-old man, casual labourer,

Henanigala South, 25 February 2011).

People in Henanigala South identify one activity, however, which is common to allmembers of Vedda community; every year they go to Dambane to participate in thetraditional ritual Kiri koraha dance. Apart from that, their daily lives are organized as anyother poor rural village. For example, there is a village welfare organization, samithi,which is led by the Henanigala South chief. They consult the Dambane chief when theyneed to convince authorities regarding issues such as getting land entitlements andbailing out arrested Veddas, since he can influence the authorities. However in general,Henanigala South Veddas believe what one man said:

He [Dambane chief] is primarily busy with improving his village. If he wanted he could inform

about our situation even to the president. We cannot do that. But he does not. He sees

Dambane and Henanigala South as two separate villages (pers. comm., 64-year-old man,

seasonal paddy farmer and casual labourer, Henanigala South, 25 February 2011).

We observed that most of the second generation in Henanigala South speaks Sin-halese more fluently than their own language. The third generation is unfamiliar withthe Vedda language. When we interviewed elderly people, small children looked at theirgrandparents mockingly. During one interview the children laughed when the grand-father started to sing a Vedda song. The youngest generation in Henanigala Southignores their cultural identity because they do not have an opportunity to learn it, sinceat schools they learn only Sinhalese culture. Thus they know only to appreciate themajority culture, according to the grandfather. It seems that the choice for these villagersis to assimilate into the culture of the majority society.

Negotiating ethnic identity

At the start of this article we raised the question of the Veddas’ ability to (re)define theircultural identity as part of a survival strategy. Negotiating their identity is not new to theVeddas. Throughout history they have claimed identity as Wanniyelatto, and thisidentity as ‘the people of the forest’ has long been contested. They have been identified

Contested identities and professional primitivism of Veddas 183

as a ‘primitive’, ‘extinct’ and ‘marginalized’ ethnic group. Today, they are unable tomaintain a meaningful relationship with the forest like their ancestors had. As aresult, they feel placeless, are alienated from their environment, and experience fear,disgust or sadness (Relph, 1976; Creswell, 2004).The stories of two Vedda communities,Dambane and Henanigala South, demonstrate that development has changed the iden-tities of these people. Even though some Veddas tend to romanticize their past, theyaccept change as inevitable and strategize for the future within their present capabilities.Due to their different locations, the two villages are faced with different opportunitiesand constraints.

In the present case of Dambane, where people choose to stay in the village eventhough their land and forest resources have been taken away from them, tourism hasbecome a major livelihood. Today, they use their identity as a way to bargain forlivelihood improvement. This illustrates the mentioned paradoxes of commodification oftheir culture: not only is identity fluid and in constant change, but used effectively it hasbecome a means of survival. For the Dambane Veddas, a decent living means continuingto live in harmony with the forest, as their ancestors had. However, they accept the factthat they cannot live exactly as their forefathers did, and instead have chosen to maintaintheir traditions and customs by showing them to tourists. While engaging in indigenoustourism is professional primitivism, they simultaneously proudly claim that they arecontributing to the maintenance of their identity as Wanniyelatto – people of the forest– because they choose to speak their language, know the traditional dance, songs andrituals, and are familiar with the forest where their ancestors lived. Hence, they are ableto visualize their existence and identity to the outside world while they make a living outof it. The professional primitivism of the Dambane Veddas appears similar to that ofindigenous people in other places of the world. Research on Taiwan (Hunter, 2011),China (Yang, 2011) and Nepal (Guneratne, 2001) has shown that even though the aimof indigenous tourism is to represent authentic culture, in practice it happens at theexpense of local identity and autonomy of the people.

This strategy is very different from the means of livelihoods pursued in HenanigalaSouth, where the transition from traditional hunter-gathering into a fully-fledgedmarket economy and paddy cultivation have led people to co-opting the culture of theSinhalese majority in trying to be integrated into mainstream society. However, this hasbeen difficult due to lack of knowledge and resources, lack of acceptance by the majoritygroup, and also lack of political priority. Hence, the identity of Henanigala South Veddashas become blurred – a mix of traditional and modern, Vedda and Sinhalese, and inconstant change.

Representations of indigenous people tend to exaggerate certain elements of ordi-nary life while understating others (Hunter, 2011). In Sri Lanka, commodification ofindigenousness is not a new phenomenon. Seligmann and Seligmann (1911) havedescribed encounters between white colonialists and wild indigenous people, mediatedby local businessmen and/or elites. In Dambane, engaging in professional primitivism isidentified as a voluntary act. The chief plays a significant role in it since professionalprimitivism is practised under his close supervision and guidance. The chief defines therules on how to conduct professional primitivism, who engage in it as well as theelements of the Vedda culture; for example, making ornaments and weaving cloths arenot traditional elements. In Henanigala South, people have attempted tourism relatedactivities, but a lack of resources including a leader who could negotiate powerfully inthis regard, has prevented them from promoting tourism as a livelihood in this village.This difference shows that location in each place is unique and represents different

184 Chamila T. Attanapola and Ragnhild Lund

opportunities and constraints. However, we are doubtful about how professionalprimitivism functions as a sustainable survival strategy. When the Dambane chief’sstrong leadership is not there to protect his indigenous people from tourists and outsidebusinessmen through his rules and political connections, will the Veddas become merelythe employees of businessmen who manage ecotourist activities? New hybrid realitieswill emerge and even lead to new forms of domination by others.

The experiences of Veddas in both Henanigala South and Dambane demonstrate thatthey cannot earn a decent living outside their villages due to their marginalized positionin the society. Most Vedda people lack formal education or other skills such as agricul-ture or vocational training which can be exchanged in the labour market. Instead, theychose to sell what they have to offer: their culture. In that sense, professional primitiv-ism is a necessity rather than a choice to survive within the market oriented system, andsimilarly, integration into the major society is yet another inevitable situation.

Concluding remarks

The story of Veddas in Sri Lanka demonstrates how identities of indigenous peoplechange, as they cope with changing meanings of place and access to resources due togovernment interventions in the form of resettlement and environmental conservationprojects. As their traditional identity is contested and changing, the Vedda people see theneed for ‘protecting the traditional cultural identity’ while trying to adapt to the newmarket economy of the country. Here, two distinct types of identity formations areidentified, which depend on leadership and resources and how they are situated in timeand space. In Dambane, people re-indigenize their identity to achieve a decent liveli-hood, to protect the culture and to gain a new image as a group with a rich culturalidentity. Thus, when the opportunity to protect the Vedda identity is available throughengaging in tourism, Vedda people maneuver their identity as a means of livelihoodsand survival. When such opportunity is not available, like in Henanigala South, peoplehave to conform to the mainstream society and their identity becomes blurred. Thishappens when their ethnic identity is not respected or recognized by state administra-tions and politicians, who try to play down ethnic differences in order to integrate theminto mainstream society. Hence, they remain the backward and marginalized others.

Acknowledgements

Our great appreciation goes to the paramount Vedda Chief and people in Dambane and chiefs and

people in Henanigala South, for welcoming us to their communities and letting us conduct the

research. We thank Catriona Turner for copy editing our manuscript.

Endnotes

1 Names of places and individuals are not anonymized in this article. Informed consent is given.

2 In general, the name Vedda has negative connotations and the term evokes images of wild

primitive hunters who are dirty and eat meat. Within the Sinhalese-Buddhist community value

system, killing animals is regarded as a sin. Thus, the popular image of Veddas is a derogatory

one (Brow, 1990; Bastin, 2003). In academic literature, there are other views about Veddas:

Veddas have been a part of the nation since the sixteenth century (Obeyesekere, 2002); it is a

statistically extinct ethnic group (Deraniyagala, 1963; Dharmadasa, 1974; Dharmadasa &

Samarasinghe, 1990; Chandrasena, 1993); Veddas are marginalized victims of development

(Lund 2000; 2003) and Sinhala and Tamil nationalism (Brow, 1990; Thangarajah, 1995).

Contested identities and professional primitivism of Veddas 185

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