ABSTRACT
The Australian research team included individuals fluent in both Sinhala Tamil. In some cases, local people were employed to conduct surveys and interviews, while in other cases they simply helped the Australian researchers conduct surveys and interviews. In a sense, the research methodology outlined can also be described as multi-site ethnography, even though the Australian researchers had limited time in each place during all our research trips to either Sri Lanka or India. Hambantota has played an important role in the history of Sri Lanka because of its location on what has been called the Silk Road of the Sea, as well as because its relatively dry climate and the presence of large coastal lagoons have made it an ideal place for harvesting sea salt. Seenigama is an old Buddhist settlement close to the site of an island temple that is seen as being the home of a special deity, Seenigama Dewale.
