Sinhalese

About this book

The Sinhalese are the dominant ethnic group in Sri Lanka. There are ten documents in this file, focused mainly on the Kandyan Sinhalese. The dates of coverage range from 1860 to the 1980s; with most of the fieldwork done in the 1950s and 1960s. Many of these works are heavily oriented to kinship and its integration into other cultural aspects of the society. Yalman's work, based on seven community studies, is probably the best general source on Kandyan kinship and its relation to other aspects of the culture. While most of the kinship documents tend to be concerned with the theoretical considerations of British kinship and social structure studies, they are well supported with case histories and community studies material which provide more than just kinship information. A number provide additional ethnographic data on social structure, architecture, material culture, religion, politics, culture history, and the ethnic conflict between the majority Sinhalese population and the minority Tamils.