Geographies of Conflict

Johnathan Subendran: Geographies of Conflict: Towards Liberation, Self-determination and Spatial justice in Sri Lanka’s North-East

Location: North-Eastern, Sri Lanka
Mentors: Caroline Newton, Diego Sepulveda Carmona
Keywords: Spatial justice, ethnic conflict, spatial planning, self-determination

This research project aims to understand the spatial and procedural implications of planning and spatial justice in conditions of oppressive power and conflict. Ambitions towards spatial justice amongst marginalized ethnic minority populations are at further risk if liberal notions of government and planning continue to operate under the ethnocratic state regime. This demands an alternative approach and perspectives that are context-specific to which can engage with the realities of marginalized populations towards the quest for justice. The research framework is steered by an exploratory research approach that suggests an organic process to contextualize the preconditions of spatial justice as the research begins to unveil the conditions of the context of marginalized areas of North-Eastern Sri Lanka. The project intends to formulate spatial strategies and procedural guidelines to support the quest for spatial justice, self-determination, and liberation of marginalized populations.