Voices of Sri Lanka's Youth : Aspirations and Perceptions of Freedom and Possibilities

Sammanfattning: During November and December 2007 a Minor Field Study was conducted in the southwest of Sri Lanka with the aim of exploring the aspirations and perceptions of freedom and possibilities among a sample of Sri Lankan youth and also how their situation is viewed upon by people in their close surroundings. The aim was also try to discern the main concerns and indicators of unfreedom that in the eye of the informants are viewed as obstacles to development, to personal human development as well as to the development of Sri Lanka as a nation. The theoretical framework that was used as inspirational ground and basis for the formulation of the project, was Amartya Sen’s concept of “development as freedom” and his “capability approach” which focuses on the human potential and what freedom an individual enjoys to convert capabilities into desired functionings or the realization of aspirations. This modern economic theory was tested in this context to find out if it is applicable and relevant in ethnographic development studies. Despite its lack of numerical metrics, the “capability approach” seems very relevant to describe the reality of at least the Lankese youth in this study. As methodology for the qualitative field work, Hadley Cantril’s “aspiration-model” and his “self-anchoring striving scale” was used which provides a simple, easily applicable interview technique for exploring the unique reality of an individual and what it shares or don’t shares with that of others. The results show that there are many strong aspirations among the Sri Lankan youth; aspirations of being a good person that achieve something in life, aspirations of being able to take the best care of the family, to go through a qualitative education and to get a good job with a good salary. Many youth want to go abroad. Of course there are aspirations of peace in the war-torn country. There are concerns and feelings of unfreedom that relate to the unemployment situation, a very difficult economic situation in the country, underdevelopment and inadequate facilities, the ongoing war, and political unfreedom.