  In this contribution we summarize two recent applications of a correspondence
between backreaction terms in averaged inhomogeneous cosmologies and an
effective scalar field (the `morphon'). Backreaction terms that add to the
standard sources of Friedmannian kinematical laws and that emerge from
geometrical curvature invariants built from inhomogeneities, can be interpreted
in terms of a minimally coupled scalar field in the case of a dust matter
source. We consider closure conditions of the averaged equations that lead to
different evolution scenarii: a) the standard Chaplygin equation of state
imposed as an effective relation between kinematical fluctuations and intrinsic
curvature of space sections, and b) an inflationary scenario that emerges out
of inhomogeneities of the Einstein vacuum, where averaged curvature
inhomogeneities model the potential of an effective classical inflaton.
