Performing Empowerment: Disability, Dance, and Inclusive Development in Post-Conflict Sri Lanka

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War inflicts lasting physical and psychological damage on many people and subsequent post-conflict development often leaves them behind. Long after the war is over, ex-combatants and civilians with conflict-related disabilities remain trapped in extreme poverty and social exclusion. One way to change this is to empower them with the confidence, knowledge, and skills to assert their socio-economic rights and to demand government services. Such "legal empowerment" is a form of rights-based development that accords with the emphasis on access to justice and inclusion in the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals.This research project examines an innovative way of empowering persons with conflict-related disabilities in Sri Lanka through an unusual combination of dance and law. Although Sri Lanka's brutal, 26-year civil war ended in 2009, the country only began seriously addressing the legacies of the conflict with the election of a new president in 2015. The project is also timely given that Sri Lanka ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities this year and the country is currently debating reparations for those affected by the war. The project consists of four main activities: (1) workshops that combine integrated dance (where disabled and able-bodied dancers perform together) and legal empowerment; (2) flash mobs and dance performances in busy, public spaces by workshop participants; (3) research on how the workshops and performances affect the agency, dignity, welfare, and inclusion of persons with conflict-related disabilities; and (4) sharing the research findings with a wide range of beneficiaries to maximize impact. The workshops and performances will take place in Batticaloa and Jaffna, two of the most conflict-affected districts in Sri Lanka. The research component asks how combining legal empowerment with integrated dance can contribute to inclusive development for persons with disabilities in post-conflict settings. In answering that, the project addresses three gaps in current knowledge. First, there has been very little research done on legal empowerment for persons with conflict-related disabilities. Second, there is evidence that integrated dance can promote self-esteem and inclusion for persons with disabilities, but more research is needed to see whether this also applies to conflict-related disabilities and post-conflict environments. Finally, the use of participatory performing arts to achieve development goals is under-studied. The research team consists of a new, interdisciplinary collaboration among scholar-practitioners in dance and human rights. The team will work closely with two project partners: a German non-profit association that has already piloted workshops and performances in Sri Lanka; and a Sri Lankan church that provides services to persons with disabilities and other marginalized persons in those two districts. The research will be conducted and disseminated with the help of two Sri Lankan collaborators: the Fine Arts Department at Eastern University of Sri Lanka and the Law Department at the University of Peradeniya. The project will also build capacity in these departments so they can continue the workshops and research after this specific project ends.The research will produce an evidence-base on linking legal empowerment with participatory performance to reduce extreme poverty and social exclusion for persons with conflict-related disabilities after conflict. The impact is to inform policymakers, practitioners, and donors on how to scale up such development interventions in Sri Lanka and similar post-conflict states like Myanmar and Nepal.