ABSTRACT
This contribution intends first to question the dualistic model that denies the extent of the interaction between plantations and villages in the case of colonial Ceylon, then to understand dualistic mythical representations (the plantation as enclave, the village as hemmed-in) as elements of colonial and nationalist discourses. It is argued that the estate/village dynamic is crucial to an understanding of the rural history of Sri Lanka, and that enclave and hemmed-in metaphors were and still are a key component in mythical representations of the rural elaborated by non-peasant groups (European planters, Kandyan aristocracy, Low Country elite) to foster their own interests.
