| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
It is well known that traditional communities relate to their settlements differently from modern ones, and that in the developing world contemporary settlements often constitute dualistic communities, holding contrasting perceptions of place. Sri Lanka's traditional communities have been fashioned by historically evolved conceptions of the world comprised of supernatural beings and their interrelationships; reverence for nature and spirits underpin everyday activities and life expectations. The monks and peasants who were the main occupants of such villages articulated their conceptions of place around the duality of the sacred and the profane, a mode of conceptualisation still embedded in everyday language and behaviour. The paper elucidates the structure and the conceptualisations of the significant places in traditional Sri Lankan villages. It discusses how they have become, with globalisation, diffused, yet remain at the core of local conceptualisations.
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