Tear Gas Baby

Abstract

Tear Gas Baby is a polyphonic novel set between April and July 2022 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, during islandwide anti-government protests. The novel follows Dina, a journalist, Kamal, a communist party worker, and Aditya, a young researcher, as they navigate their individual relationships to and within the protest movement through the lenses of race and class. Shorter chapters are also included from the points of view of The Dictator and The Usurper, figures representing the government at the time of the protests and immediately after. This novel explores themes of nationality, patriotism, class dynamics, history, collective memory and the disparate cultural and political weight of the country’s racial majority and minorities. By the time of its ending, the protests, despite having succeeded in ousting the President and Prime Minister, are subdued violently by the incoming government.