A field visit was organized as part of the GGY 4066 Geographies of Development course on the 16th of September 2023. The course coordinator Prof. Fazeeha Azmi, Dr. M.M. Alikhan, R.M.N.T.S Rathnayake, L.D.N.N Jayawardnena and Ms. Rashada Raufdeen planned the fieldwork. The main aim of the fieldwork was to expose students to real-world development issues within the context of resettlement. The students were assigned into seven groups. They participated in two pre-fieldwork programmes. During the pre-field work sessions, the socio, economic, and political context of the marginalized tea plantation sector was widely discussed. In addition, the students were also exposed to different fieldwork methods. After these sessions, students were asked to arrange separate sessions to plan and assign different TORs for group members. Students discussed their fieldwork plans among the group and they consulted the lecturers before they commenced the real fieldwork. The lecturers involved in the course shared relevant reading materials with the students in order to strengthen their knowledge of the field.

During the fieldwork, students were taken to the Liddesdale tea factory to show how the tea processing is taking place. The management explained the changing patterns and processes of tea production and the challenges faced by the management as well as the workers. After this briefing, the students were directly accompanied to the field site. During the fieldwork, the students applied observation, Interviews, short surveys and Focus Group Discussions to collect data. They also captured pictures to include in their field course report. The research highlights revealed the experience of resettlement is different for different people that varied according to age, gender, education and original places of living. The local politics have played a crucial role in all steps related to resettlement. While some people were happy about the new houses that they received, some were not satisfied. People also pointed out the issue of land rights, which is a long overdue. The research further revealed the resettlement process has paid inadequate attention to participatory planning. Although the projects aimed at a sustainable solution to housing issues of the plantation community, it was found that the ground situation contradicts with the expectation.

Acknowledgement: Faculty of Arts, University of Peradeniya for funding the field trip, Two former Geography students for their invaluable support of Marie Chandrasekaran and Rajendran Ithayamalar.