After the Waves

Description

This volume contains several essays which analyze the impact of the Asian Tsunami of 26 December 2004 on women in Sri Lanka, and documents the work carried out by selected women’s groups in the wake of the disaster. The essays, both original and already published, were written between 2005 and 2008, and explore the impact of the tsunami on Sri Lankan women it relation to the armed conflict, women and development, and psychosocial effects. The documentation of tsunami-related work by Sri Lankan women’s groups makes public a range of concerns around which advocacy on gender and social policy took place in the aftermath of the disaster.

Although more women than men perished in the tsunami in Sri Lanka and experienced its direct and indirect impact in different ways, it has been noted that little attention was paid to the gendered aspects of the disaster and that most post-tsunami reconstruction programs were ‘gender blind.’ This lacunae has persisted in much of the writing that constitutes post-tsunami studies in Sri Lanka. By collecting essays that specifically focus on the impact of the disaster on women, After the Waves makes a significant contribution, therefore, to scholars, students and general readers of gender studies, as well as to those who wish to broaden their understanding of how natural disasters affect specific communities.

The impact of the Tsunami on Women in Sri Lanka