Everyday life in the Crown colony of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was characterized by a direct encounter of people with modernity through the consumption and use of foreign machines – in particular, the Singer sewing machine, but also the gramophone, tramway, bicycle and varieties of industrial equipment. The ''metallic modern'' of the 19th and early 20th century Ceylon encompassed multiple worlds of belonging and imagination; and enabled diverse conceptions of time to coexist through encounters with Siam, the United States and Japan as well as a new conception of urban space in Colombo. Metallic Modern describes the modern as it was lived and experienced by non-elite groups – tailors, seamstresses, shopkeepers, workers – and suggests that their idea of the modern was nurtured by a changing material world.

Everyday life in the Crown colony of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was characterized by a direct encounter of people with modernity through the consumption and use of foreign machines – in particular, the Singer sewing machine, but also the gramophone, tramway, bicycle and varieties of industrial equipment. The ‘metallic modern’ of the 19th and early 20th century Ceylon encompassed multiple worlds of belonging and imagination; and enabled diverse conceptions of time to coexist through encounters with Siam, the United States and Japan as well as a new conception of urban space in Colombo. Metallic Modern describes the modern as it was lived and experienced by non-elite groups – tailors, seamstresses, shopkeepers, workers – and suggests that their idea of the modern was nurtured by a changing material world.

List of Illustrations and Maps
Preface and Acknowledgements

Introduction: Exploring Sri Lanka’s modern: Multiple Loops of Belonging

Chapter 1. Following the Singer Sewing Machine: Fashioning a market in a British Crown Colony
Chapter 2. Creating a Market Imaginary
Chapter 3. Paths to a Buddhist modern: From Siam to America
Chapter 4. Gramophone. Soulful Sounds and Sacred Speeches
Chapter 5. An Asian Modern. Japan
Chapter 6. Trams, Cars, Bicycles: Modern Machines in the City
Chapter 7. A Tailor’s Tale and Machines in the Home
Chapter 8. Working like Machines

Conclusion: Metallic Modern

Glossary
Bibliography
Index