Behind the curtains of pola : creating and negotiating local markets in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The pola, a locally built and operated market and social institution in Sri Lanka,has survived over a century. From the 1970s,politicians, planners and policymakershave attempted to modernize it; the peak is the national government pledging LKR3,000millionsin 2014. Enormous resources have been wasted due to the gap between the perception among formal actors and the lived pola. This study aimed to understand thepolafrom the pola-people’svantage points. I became a member of Kottawa-Polaand the circuit. I learned that the polais notits physicality or a thing –as the state and planners do— but ajourney and has a lived self that needs to be acknowledged. Even when the government restructures, thepola-people use the provisionsas raw material to defy and overcome the intervention. Thepola isan ingenuous institution produced by people to navigate and construct contemporary urban environments.