Introduction Since 1911, “Indian Tamil” has been the official term that the government of Sri Lanka has used to identify this community. While this term explicitly refers to their historical origin, it implies that the community is non-indigenous, and, therefore, not truly Sri Lankan. Such a view underlined the move after independence to deprive this community of citizenship. As a corrective to this, the term “Indian-origin Tamil” came to be used as a self-referent over the course of the twentieth century, especially among Colombobased elites of Up-country origin. In contrast, the terms “Plantation Tamil” or “Estate Tamil” refer to those who still live and/or work on the estates, and who continue to make up approximately 80 per cent of the total population in the community. Few choose that identification, since it has negative and derogatory connotations. Over the past few decades, “Up-country Tamil”, a translation of the Tamil term “Malaiyaka Tamil”, has become a preferred term, since it includes not only those Tamils on the plantations, but also those historically connected with them but living in other areas in Sri Lanka. It stresses their attachment to their present place of residence as against the country of their ancestral origin, with which fewer and fewer Up-country Tamils continue to have any connection. Although the majority of Up-country Tamils still live and or work on tea plantations, they increasingly identify with the Upcountry as a whole, and not just the estates. In both colonial and post-independence Sri Lanka, the governing authorities viewed Up-country Tamils as an alien community, thus legitimating their continued economic and political marginalisation. In contrast to their official (census) designation as Indian Tamils, their selfidentification connects them to the places where they were born, xv