THE TRANSCENDENCE OF LOCALITY AND THE PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY IN SRI-LANKA, 1980-1995

In 1995, a resurvey of a sample of households in eight communities loc ated in Galle and Nuwara Eliya districts fifteen years after the origi nal survey provides strong evidence that communities are taking on new functions. The intersection of household changes in size, age distrib ution, education level and income earning with the continuing and rapi d integration of communities into the market economy, the centralized state and the homogenizing culture are generating new responsibilities for communities. Far from disintegrating, communities are gaining a n ew life taking on added functions in education, in care of the elderly , and with the creation of organizations for community development. Th e evidence suggests that change in Sri Lanka is strengthening local co mmunities.