ABSTRACT
Despite over a decade of ostensible peace, the island of Sri Lanka has yet to experience a shift into genuine peace. Rather, various government institutions have extended the ethos of militarization and counter-terrorism into the daily lives of Sri Lankans in ways that are felt disproportionately by members of low-caste, low-class, and minority communities (ethnic, religious, and sexual). This chapter focuses on how this manifests in Jaffna Town, in northern Sri Lanka, with attention to policing as a regime of mobility. Drawing on ethnographic research with rickshaw drivers and a well-documented police shooting, this chapter argues for “driving while Tamil” as a heuristic that highlights the assemblage of forces that structure mobilities in the region, particularly for young Tamil men.
