Dr. Kumari Jayawardena is a leading feminist scholar and social scientist, and has made significant contributions to research in the spheres of labour and capital, peasant movements, women’s studies and gender equality, plantation workers, nationalism and ethnic identities. This is a conversation with Dr. Jayawardena on one of her pioneering works, Nobodies to Somebodies: The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka (Colombo: SSA, 2000). The book examines the origins and growth of the Sri Lankan bourgeoisie especially during British colonial rule. It is one of the principal studies to examine the category of ‘class’, and the rise of the new-rich ‘nobodies’ – belonging to different caste, ethnic and religious groups – into the rank of ‘somebodies’.