Abstract:
The point of departure on this study is the concept of social identity, which is one of the
major sociological concepts. Today, our country is encountering an identity crisis and
serious damage has been done to the different aspects of the country. The damage and
destruction has been both human and socio-economic. Study focuses on the 'Estate
Tamil' community in Sri Lanka. They are often recognised as 'Indian Tamils', in contrast
'Sri Lankan Tamils', the people who live in the north and east of the island. The majority
of them live in upcountry tea estates while a small percentage of them live in low country
tea and rubber estates. They were brought to Sri Lanka, as estate labourers by the British
planters, under 'kangany' system since the Sinhalas did not like to work in the estates.
They had been given so called Tine room based', residential facilities by the plantation
companies at that time, and they were confined only to the estates. This 'dwelling' (living
space) and 'settlement' (environment) patterns enforced very low status social identity
which naturally they come to resent. They have been cornered by the non-estate Tamils,
and the majority Sinhalas because of these reasons. Estate Tamils who well understand
the situation, have taken some actions voluntarily to change their mode of living in search
of a new identity, which gives them better acceptance among non-estate based Tamils and
the majority Sinhalas.
The government operated self-help housing schemes similar to what is found in Sinhala
villages, as an alternative to the existing line rooms for the estate Tamils considering the
requests made by the trade unions, estate based political parties and members of the civil
v
