When Cryptotype Meets the Imaginary: ‘Adultery’ in a Sri Lankan Village

Abstract

This chapter presents an empirical case of a young Sri Lankan woman who is ostracized from her local community for being an adulteress, despite no one in the community having any real proof of this being the case. The article engages with the preceding chapters of this volume in order to find comparative connections to both understand this case and to situate it in the contexts of the symbolic roles folk devils may play in a society.