On February 3rd 2022, Professor Mythri Jegathesan delivered a lecture on her research on debt and its embedment in the everyday relations of caste, work and gender on Sri Lanka’s tea plantations; often, moneylending, marriage and divisions of labour make up everyday relations across households and generations in these plantations, with a workforce of a minority Malaiyaka Tamil residents. Her research tracks regional, state and industrial investments within these plantation’s often read and misread experiences of debt within Sri Lanka’s postwar politics. Jegathesan uses a framework of errata (errors) to think about the long-standing refusals to meet Malaiyaka Tamils’ demands for dignity and a living wage on the plantations. Jegathesan’s lecture was very well-received and well-attended by staff and students likewise.
