Suicide in Sri Lanka

Suicide in Sri Lanka: The Anthropology of an Epidemic, 1st Edition, examines the causes and social meanings of suicidal practices in a country reporting decades of epidemic rates. Anthropologist Tom Widger links suicidal behavior to historical and social processes across individual lifetimes.

Based on long-term fieldwork in a Sinhala Buddhist community, the book formulates an ethnographic theory of suicide. It highlights the motives of children and adults, exploring how relationships of gender, age, class, and violence give rise to suicidal responses.

Each chapter ends with straightforward summaries and prevention implications. The volume addresses topics relevant to South Asian studies, social anthropology, medical anthropology, and cross-cultural suicidology.