Accounting for the stateless: Indian Tamils and the historical construction of racial inequality in Sri Lanka

Purpose This paper aims to provide a historical perspective on the beginnings of racial inequality by analysing the changing citizenship identity of migrant Indian Tamils in post-colonial Sri Lanka (1948–2003), and the role accounting plays in constructing them as stateless non-citizens. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents a genealogy of the biopolitical governing of migrant Indian Tamils, drawing on government archives, census data and interviews with retired government officials. Findings This study shows how accounting plays a supplementary role in providing the state with an account of its population through practices of naming, counting and valuing. These practices also create Indian Tamil migrants as new objects of knowledge using their non-citizenship and racial identity. Government accounting of the everyday life (bios) of these non-citizens (births, deaths, education and wage rates) provided yearly evidence of the social and economic disparities between Sri Lankan citizens and the stateless Indian Tamils who lived predominantly on plantation estates. Originality/value This paper enhances our understanding of how current racial dynamics are linked to historical economic, social and political forces and shows the long-term consequences of racial inequality related to statelessness.