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The International Centre for Ethnic Studies is pleased to announce the launch of Research Paper No: 06  on the theme of Post War Reconciliation titled, Victorious Victims: An Analysis of Sri Lanka's Post War Discourse by Andi SchubertMuch of the focus and discussion on reconciliation in Sri Lanka both internationally and locally has tended to centre around the work and findings of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). However, many analysts have pointed out that Sri Lanka’s trajectory towards reconciliation after nearly three decades of war appears to be moving rather slowly. In seeking answers to this dilemma this paper turns away from the LLRC and instead analyses the post-war discourse of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka in order to understand the concerns and dynamics shaping Sri Lanka’s post-war reconciliation agenda. This paper uses two texts or utterances by President Rajapaksa — his speech to Parliament on 19 May 2009 announcing the end of the war and the President’s election manifesto (Mahinda Chintanaya 2010: Vision for the Future) for the 2010 Presidential Election as the basis of its analysis. The President’s discourse is analysed through the intersections and negotiations between the identities of perpetrator, victim and victor. The paper finds that the President constructs the LTTE as the sole perpetrator of the conflict in Sri Lanka but discursively constructs the possibility of three victims — the collective body, the Tamils as special victims and the Sinhalese as the real victims of the LTTE. These constructions intersect with the construction of the State as a helpless/weak/magnanimous victor which achieved victory in the face of incredible odds. However, these identities are premised on the need to affirm the possibility as well as the impossibility of the presence of the LTTE in post-war Sri Lanka. As a result I argue that Sri Lanka’s post-war reconciliation agenda reflects the inherent contradictions of representing these opposing positions and identities simultaneously.You can download this paper as a PDF document via the following links:Box: PDF (Non-Facebook users)Scribd: PDFsource: ICESColombo2, Kynsey Terrace,Colombo 8, Sri LankaT:+94-11-2679745/ 2674884F:+94-11-2688929Kandy554/6A, Peradeniya Road,Mulgampola (Kandy), Sri LankaT:+ 94-81-2234892/ 2232381F:+94-81-2234892E: ices@ices.lkwww.ices.lk/www.llrcarchive.org