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Main Article Content
Female heads of households in Sri Lanka: Making and sustaining livelihoods in protracted displacement
Abstract
Since 1990, Muslim internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the district of Puttalam in Sri Lanka have been living in a state of protracted displacement. During this time, they have been confronted with various socio-economic and political challenges concerned with the realization of durable solutions to their displacement. After nearly two and a half decades, while some IDPs have become victims of the negligence and exclusion thrust upon them by the Sri Lankan government and donors, others have instead proven themselves to be anything but simply victims. By focusing on female heads of households (FHHs) and their attempts to generate and sustain positive livelihoods, this paper aims to unravel how the livelihood strategies of FHHs are mediated through their heterogeneity and hence their agency to access different resources to make a living in the context of protracted displacement. This study is informed by a larger survey that was undertaken by the author in 2014, which focused on Muslim FHHs’ access to economic, social and cultural resources in Puttalam. This paper also uses data obtained from twelve in-depth interviews and one focus group discussion with IDP FHHs, conducted subsequent to the completion of the larger survey. The study finds that the heterogeneity of FHHs is highly influential on their livelihood strategies and their agency to access livelihood resources. This heterogeneous character also overlaps into accessing livelihoods. In sum, the paper reveals the importance to FHHs of both ‘compliant’ agency and ‘transformative’ agency in making and sustaining livelihoods in displacement.
