Citation

Widger T. Contrib. Indian Sociol. 2012; 46(1-2): 83-116.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/006996671104600205

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Ethnographic research amongst Sinhala Buddhists in community and clinical settings in the Madampe Division, northwest Sri Lanka, suggests that local understandings and practices of suicidal behaviour reflect the kinship structure. In particular, acts of self-harm and self-inflicted death arise in response to the breaking of core kinship rights, duties and obligations, or as a challenge to inflexibility or contradictions within the system. In either case, the morality of kinship is closely associated with the causes of suicidal behaviour, as the 'inevitability' or 'evitability' of kin relationships is negotiated and lived in practice. This article analyses how local political economies give rise to particular kinship and moral conditions, with special attention paid to those between household (gē) members and brothers-in-law (massinā). © 2012 SAGE Publications.

Language: en

Keywords

suicide; Suicide; morality; Sri Lanka; cultural influence; cultural geography; cultural landscape; household structure; kinship