<p>During November and December 2007 a Minor Field Study was conducted in the southwest</p><p>of Sri Lanka with the aim of exploring the aspirations and perceptions of freedom and</p><p>possibilities among a sample of Sri Lankan youth and also how their situation is viewed upon</p><p>by people in their close surroundings. The aim was also try to discern the main concerns and</p><p>indicators of unfreedom that in the eye of the informants are viewed as obstacles to</p><p>development, to personal human development as well as to the development of Sri Lanka as a</p><p>nation. The theoretical framework that was used as inspirational ground and basis for the</p><p>formulation of the project, was Amartya Sen’s concept of “development as freedom” and his</p><p>“capability approach” which focuses on the human potential and what freedom an individual</p><p>enjoys to convert capabilities into desired functionings or the realization of aspirations. This</p><p>modern economic theory was tested in this context to find out if it is applicable and relevant</p><p>in ethnographic development studies. Despite its lack of numerical metrics, the “capability</p><p>approach” seems very relevant to describe the reality of at least the Lankese youth in this</p><p>study. As methodology for the qualitative field work, Hadley Cantril’s “aspiration-model”</p><p>and his “self-anchoring striving scale” was used which provides a simple, easily applicable</p><p>interview technique for exploring the unique reality of an individual and what it shares or</p><p>don’t shares with that of others. The results show that there are many strong aspirations</p><p>among the Sri Lankan youth; aspirations of being a good person that achieve something in</p><p>life, aspirations of being able to take the best care of the family, to go through a qualitative</p><p>education and to get a good job with a good salary. Many youth want to go abroad. Of course</p><p>there are aspirations of peace in the war-torn country. There are concerns and feelings of</p><p>unfreedom that relate to the unemployment situation, a very difficult economic situation in the</p><p>country, underdevelopment and inadequate facilities, the ongoing war, and political</p><p>unfreedom.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:vxu-2050 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Lundell, Andreas |
| Publisher | Växjö University, School of Social Sciences |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, text |
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