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Michele Ruth Gamburd is Professor of Anthropology at Portland State University. She is the author of The Kitchen Spoon’s Handle: Transnationalism and Sri Lanka’s Migrant Housemaids (Cornell University Press, 2000) and Breaking the Ashes: The Culture of Illicit Liquor in Sri Lanka (Cornell University Press, 2008).
Sri Lankan Migration to the Gulf: Female Breadwinners – Domestic Workers
Several waves of Sri Lankan migration have taken place since the country gained independence in 1948. Beginning in the mid-1950s, wealthy, educated, English-speaking elites have migrated to Commonwealth countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom. In addition, since the upsurge in ethnic hostilities in the early 1980s, Tamil-speaking Hindu migrants have left the country, with many settling in Canada. In contrast with these permanent migrants, since 1976 a growing number of Sri Lankans have become migrant workers.
