The Political Economy of the Rise and Fall of Brassware: A Case Study of Gadaladeniya, Sri Lanka

Through the case of brassware producers in Gadaladeniya, Sri Lanka, I show that nationalism is not a tide that lifts all boats equally, even when some boats are supposed to be lifted so. Building upon qualitative fieldwork carried out intermittently from February to December 2023, I argue, first, that the complex effects of democratisation may have non-linear offshoots such as the disintegration of a traditionally marginalised caste community, rather than its empowerment; second, the social bases of state power may result in a single institutional apparatus yielding different benefits to different constituencies, depending on where the regime draws its electoral strength from, leading to fluctuations in community fortunes; and third, and last, customised methods of production that both enable traditional crafts to have a distinct presence in the market while also constraining their productive capacities further contribute to their unviability, compounding disintegrative tendencies.