Synopsis Sri Lanka, known worldwide as the 'Pearl of the East', is today attracting adverse international attention through reports of ethnic violence and endless Guerilla warfare. This collection of essays provides a critical but humanistic perspective on the various dimensions of the on-going ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. The contributors look beyond the obvious conflict between the Tamil and Sinhalese communities and analyse why and how the ideological as well as the material construction of the ethnic conflict has become the major plank in politico-social discourse and in the mobilisation of public opinion in the country.