“Life After Death” Remembering the “Tamil Tigers” in North-East Sri Lanka

Abstract

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were defeated militarily by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in 2009. The LTTE had established its own governance structures for considerable periods of time in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka. This article shows how the LTTE’s governance and leader Prabhakaran are remembered in those areas and how this creates new symbolic and performative realities through commemorations and reclaimed sites of memory. In addition, it demonstrates that the internet and social media function as important emerging sites of memory.