Mythri Jegathesan’s ethnography explores Hill Country Tamil workers’ desires for dignity on Sri Lanka’s tea plantations. She conducted her ethnographic research between 2008 and 2017. The length of time in which she immersed herself in the fieldwork is notable because over nearly 10 years, she was able to track the political changes in Sri Lanka thta influenced Hill County Tamil’s livelihoods. Once instance where time is significant is in the introduction where Jegathesan discusses the cycle of poverty that Hill Country Tamils face. Many of them do not own homes and experience structural debt. Despite these barriers, they still build community and attachment to their home. Jegathesan could observe this trend over her 9 years of interviews and fieldwork.
I appreciated Jegathesan’s emphasis on the intersection of gender, class, and caste discrimination in shaping Hill Country Tamil workers’ experiences. From many of the ethnographies I’ve read, the intersection of gender and class is well explored. However, Jegathesan brings in the extra important factor of caste discrimination. Unlike gender and class which is often visible, caste status can be an invisible identity, making it harder to address. Caste status also relates to colonialism because living with a family legacy of colonialism can also be invisible identity. Jegathesan writes, “[Hill Country Tamils have made Sri Lanka their home] through their own gendered labor, work investments into land, and dwelling structures that are not legally their own” (119). Hill Country Tamils have surmounted a legacy of colonialism that opposes their autonomy to make Sri Lanka their home.
My question is how many Hill Country Tamils did Jegathesan interview over her 9 years in Sri Lanka? How long did she follow these people throughout the years? I assume she must have interviewed many more workers than she included in her book. How did she select whose stories to focus on in each chapter?
I really liked the way you ties colonialism into your blog post because in my opinion, this is where the story of the Hill Country Tamil people starts. They wound up in Sri Lanka because of a semi forced migration during British colonization when coffee plantations were being set up. Their lives have not changed drastically because the colonial overlords were replaced with Sri Lankan elites who manage the same British housing that they have lived in for over 150 years.
As to you question about methods I think she builds most of her cases from participant observation, just living and learning in these disenfranchised communities and bonding with the women that call them home. When the people being studied are working so hard for scraps of change (sometimes less than a dollar a day) it can be difficult or even unethical to ask them to participate in lengthy interviews. I also think her writing style of embedded details lends itself better to observational notes with quotations.
I also found time as an aspect of Jegathesan’s methods to be an extremely important part of her work. By doing that, she forges strong and personal bonds with each of her subjects, even seeing the children of some grow up. It reminded me somewhat of the time that (other) Dr. Bjork-James spent in Bolivia. Even so, Jegathesan spent a significant amount of time within the ethnography of this book, and it is clear that she created a really strong sense of herself in her position by spending time in Sri Lanka. In addition to the intersectionalities you mentioned, specifically the caste system, I think that the postwar landscape and its impact on colonialism was also a significant aspect of the labor relations on the tea plantations in Sri Lanka. In Chapter 4, we learn how the layam, or line room, is influenced by colonialism, existing as a symbol of work and subjecthood (p. 103). All of these aspects greatly influence and interact with how these workers on tea plantations live; it deeply impacts their lives.
In a similar vein, my question was how she remained in contact with people. Specifically, she mentions talking on the phone for interviews at a few points. However, I am sure some of her subjects lost touch over time, and if that was the case, was she able to find them again?