Becoming a fearless tiger: The social conditions for the production of LTTE fighters

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of how a revolutionary organization - the LTTE in the Sri Lankan civil war (1983–2009) - used military training camps to produce new members. By framing war as a “transformative social condition” (Lubkemann 2008), I will show that the LTTE did not only teach recruits how to fight but also attempted to produce new political subjectivities and construct a new community. Through the imposition of discipline and punishments, control over the recruits’ body and emotions, and the spread of nationalistic narratives, the LTTE aimed to transform them into freedom fighters embodying the political will of the organization. The proposed research on a self-making process under an authoritarian regime will lead us to develop a more nuanced understanding of the contrast that is usually drawn between will and coercion.