Conflict Adaptability Strategies in the ‘Production” and “Consumption” activities in rural Vavuniya, Sri Lanka.

Abstract

Production is a fundamental activity in any societal unit that is striving to self-regulate and evolve into a much stable system. In an economy such as that of Sri Lanka, the basic communal unit is of rural origins, and ekes out its existence via ‘production’ and ‘consumption’ activities in the agricultural sector. A common threat to societal welfare at global level in present times is ‘conflict’, and Sri Lanka has had its fair share of conflicts. This paper focuses on how ‘conflict’ as a perturbing element has impacted on rural societal systems in the form of a case study of two villages, namely Povarasankulam and Kovil-kurukkulam, both in the Vavuniya district affected as such. The Sri Lankan government, whilst Kovil-kurukkulam was held by militants. Povarasankulam was under the control of the Sri Lankan government, whilst Kovil-kurukkulam was held by militants. Sociological impacts assessed were used to infer the survival strategies in both villages after being hit by conflict. Villages used such survival strategies to develop adaptive-technology to sustain their production activities. The scarcity of basic amenities, and raw materials despite where they were in-terms of administrative control, drove the community to sustain its livelihood by the use of adaptive-technology. It is found, that despite the disturbances to equilibrium of the societal system in these villages, the community strives to retain its self-regulation by adapting to these strategies with high flexibility. It is established that flexibility and adaptation are necessary traits for resilience, and for sustaining ‘production’ and ‘consumption’ activities under conflict situations. The lessons learnt from the investigation of these conflict inflicted societies can be used for drafting plans for developing natural-resource based sustainable livelihoods and business ventures in the north east of Sri Lanka in particular, that is recovering and moving back to developmental pathways in the present post-war climes and other conflict affected areas of Asia and Pacific regions.