Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore the way in which combat violence transforms practices of masculinity in young Tamil boys involved in Sri Lanka's protracted inter-ethnic war

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores the way in which combat-training and battlefield experience transforms young Tamil lads into hard militants. Built on life-narratives collected between 2007-8 from members of an ex-militant Tamil Separatist faction, it argues that the transformation of the body is also a transformation of the self. Bodily courage is not spontaneous but has to be endlessly struggled for. Alternately, bodily courage is not always the same as moral courage. While young militants acquire an enormous capacity to extend their bodies and overcome physical obstacles, the ability to retain analytical clarity and integrity in ideological issues also has to be learnt.