RC07 Webinar Series: Militarisation, Gender, Respectable Resistance in Post-War Sri Lanka

The RC07 Webinar Series presents

From War to Work: Militarized Industries, Gendered Economies and Respectable Resistance in Post-War Sri Lanka 

by Prateek Srivastava
Doctoral Candidate, University of Cincinnati

Wednesday, 18 February, 2026, 12 pm UTC
Register now: https://cutt.ly/rc070226

This presentation examines how respectability politics operate as economic infrastructure in post-war Sri Lanka's militarised industry. Focusing especially on the tourism industry, which developed intensely after the end of the war in 2009, the author conceptualises a “political economy of respectability.” This research reveals how state-military-capital alliances deploy respectability as a mechanism for capital accumulation, requiring war-affected Tamil women workers to perform gratitude, modesty, and depoliticisation as preconditions for employment. Women navigate this terrain through strategic performances while enduring surveillance, harassment, and demands to be respectful and disciplined workers. Contributing to a newer understanding of post-war development and feminist political economy, this presentation will argue that respectability functions as a commodity in post-war societies like Sri Lanka, where the state/military alliance deploys respectability as a mode of extracting women's labour, while women bargain respectability daily to access wages and survival.