Negotiating gender through symbols: cultural semiotics and creative agency in Malaiyaha Tamil community of Pedro Estate, Sri Lanka

Abstract

This paper examines how cultural semiotics shapes the construction and negotiation of gender roles within the Malaiyaha Tamil community of Pedro Estate, Sri Lanka. While symbols such as the thali, metti, pulli kolam, and traditional attire have historically reinforced patriarchal ideologies, they also function as contested terrains open to reinterpretation and creative adaptation. Drawing on semiotic theory, gender performativity, and grassroots innovation the study situates cultural practices as both mechanisms of social regulation and resources for transformation. Ethnographic fieldwork demonstrates that the community actively re-signifies traditional markers, transforming them from tools of subordination into expressions of resilience, choice, and identity. This underscores creative intelligence as a lived, semiotic, and social practice embedded in daily life. By showing how women reshape cultural meanings, this study demonstrates how semiotics can support inclusive and socially responsible design. It argues that recognizing the creative contributions of marginalized groups helps design evolve as a transformative field that connects tradition with innovation and promotes equity and inclusion.