This paper examines idiosyncrasies of tea plantation culture and politics in
relation to Sri Lankan national and popular cultural typologies, with special
reference to female tea plantation workers. Tea production in Sri Lanka is heavily
based on manual labour, and it is the largest industry that provides
accommodation for employees and their families. In this paper, it is argued that
politico-cultural production relations have dominated labour productivity in tea
plantations. Ways in which female workers have been marginalised, through
patriarchal politics, ethnicity, religion, education, elitism, and employment are
explained. This culture of the plantation community operates negatively with
respect to the management agenda. It is also argued that social capital
development in tea plantations is important not only for productivity improvement,
but also for reasons of political and social obligation for the nation, because
migrant plantation workers have been working and living in plantations over 150
years.