Publication Type
Book Chapter
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
10-2025
Abstract
This chapter critically examines dominant narratives around Sri Lanka’s debt and development in the context of Sino‑Sri Lankan relations and the Belt and Road Initiative, questioning assumptions about “debt‑trap” explanations and highlighting how narratives about development, nature and agency shape understanding of the country’s economic and ecological futures.
Discipline
Human Geography | Political Economy
Research Areas
Integrative Research Areas
Areas of Excellence
Digital transformation
Publication
The Material Geographies of the Belt and Road Initiative: Infrastructures and Political Ecologies on the New Silk Road
Editor
Elia ApostolopoulouHan ChengJonathan SilverAlan Wiig
First Page
76
Last Page
92
Identifier
10.2307/jj.18323751.10
Publisher
Bristol University Press
City or Country
Bristol, UK
Citation
WOODS, Orlando; RUWANPURA, Kanchana; CHAN, Loritta; and MAH, Barnabas.
A debt to whom? The nature questions in Sino‑Sri Lankan development narratives. (2025). The Material Geographies of the Belt and Road Initiative: Infrastructures and Political Ecologies on the New Silk Road. 76-92.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/424
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.18323751.10