PolityLK

Out Now! Vol. 13 No. 2 (July-Dec 2025). 148pp. LKR1000 from SSA, Barefoot & SLBOOKS.lk

#SriLanka. Politics. Ditwah. Ecology. Feminism. Education. Justice. Domestic Violence Act. History. Culture. Labour. Books.

Mark P. Whitaker | An Accidental Education with Gananath Obeyesekere Mark P. Whitaker is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky; and co-editor (with Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake and Pathmanesan Sanmugeswaran) of Multi-Religiosity in Contemporary Sri L...

When anthropology grad student Mark P. Whitaker found himself "a pilgrim without a pilgrimage", serendipity led him to Gananath Obeyesekere and later #SriLanka to study Hindu temple festivals in #Batticaloa

polity.lk/an-accidenta...

Chulani Kodikara | Twenty Years of the PDVA: How has it worked for Women? Chulani Kodikara is an editor of Polity and a director of the Social Scientists’ Association.

#SriLanka: The Prevention of Domestic Violence Act (PDVA) 2005, though falling short of expectations, was a step forward for the abused, writes Chulani Kodikara, introducing two essays in #PolityMagazine marking its 20th anniversary. #IWD2026

polity.lk/twenty-years...

Victor C. de Munck | Gananath: Two Stories and A Review Victor C. de Munck is Professor of Anthropology at Vilnius University, Lithuania, and the author of several works on Sri Lanka including Seasonal Cycles: A Study of Social Change and Continuity in Sri...

Anthropologist Victor C. de Munck recounts two anecdotes of Gananath Obeyesekere from the 1970s; and reviews his former teacher's method of ethnographic psychoanalysis #SriLanka

polity.lk/gananath-two...

B. Skanthakumar | Plucking the Stars B. Skanthakumar is co-editor of Up-country Tamils: Charting A New Future in Sri Lanka (2019, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo); and a director of the Social Scientists’ Association (SS...

'Plucking the Stars' by Arulraj Ulaganathan confirms the artist as a bold and imaginative interpreter of the Malaiyaha Tamil experience in the tea plantation economy of Ceylon/SriLanka writes @bskanthakumar.bsky.social.

polity.lk/plucking-the...

Anushka Kahandagamage | Obeyesekere the Dreamer: Visionary Journeys in Anthropology Anushka Kahandagamage (PhD, University of Otago) is a post-doctoral fellow in the Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University.

Gananath Obeyesekere documented visions and trance as a primary source of anthropological insight, across 'Medusa's Hair', '#Buddhism Transformed' and 'The Awakened Ones', writes Anushka Kahandagamage, sharing a fieldwork dream of her own.

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John D. Rogers | Gananath Obeyesekere: The Anthropologist and the Historian John D. Rogers is United States Director of the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies; and author of Crime, Justice and Society in Colonial Sri Lanka (Curzon Press, London, 1987).

Historian John D. Rogers recollects four decades of interaction with the anthropologist Gananath Obeyesekere; a constant intellectual presence on scholars of humanities and social sciences in late 20th century #SriLanka.

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R. S. Perinbanayagam | The Creation of the Hunter. The Creation of the Hunter. The Vädda Presence in the Kandyan Kingdom: A Re-Examination. Gananath Obeyesekere. | Robert Siddharthan Perinbanayagam died on 5 November 2025 in New York City where he liv...

Who were the Väddas? What happened to them? In #SriLanka there were no “indigenous peoples”, no “aborigines”, no “wild men” and “tribes” of Western imagination argues Gananath Obeyesekere, reviewed by RS Perinbanayagam.

polity.lk/the-creation...

Sanmugeswaran Pathmanesan | ‘Guru-Ship’: An Epistemological Turn in My Anthropological Education Sanmugeswaran Pathmanesan is a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Studies at the Open University of Sri Lanka | Gananath Obeyesekere

#anthropology is not only about studying the Other but also about transforming the Self. Sanmugeswaran Pathmanesan reflects on how personal interaction with Gananath Obeyesekere and Mark Whitaker, transformed his epistemological perspective.

polity.lk/an-epistemol...

R. L. Stirrat | Gananath: Renaissance Man Roderick L. (‘Jock’) Stirrat is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of Sussex, Brighton; and author most recently of Embracing Change in Coastal Sri Lanka: Local Strategies in a Globa...

Celebrating Gananath Obeyesekere who was born today (02.02.1930), Roderick L. Stirrat remembers a generous friend who left us on 25 March 2025, opening #PolityLk's series of remembrances and reflections on #SriLanka's foremost anthropologist.

polity.lk/gananath-ren...

Carmen Wickramagamage | A Critical History of Women’s Health in Modern Sri Lanka. Darshi Thoradeniya. Carmen Wickramagamage (PhD., University of Hawaii) is a senior professor in the Department of English, University of Peradeniya. | Darshi Thoradeniya’s book

Carmen Wickramagamage commends Darshi Thoradeniya for centring women in #SriLanka's narrative on modernisation and development. Thoradeniya argues population control was achieved through strict surveillance and control of women's reproductive sexuality.

polity.lk/critical-his...

Shashik Silva | From Living With, to Drowning Under, Floods: A Village Transformed Shashik Silva is Chief Operating Officer at the Social Scientists’ Association and a resident of Kolonnawa | Welewatta has always flooded. This village in the Kolonnawa Divisional Secretariat (DS), ho...

In Welewatta, people once coexisted with flooding. Now they fear it. Shashik Silva records the local history of a village on the edge of Colombo, changed by development and consumerism #CycloneDitwah #SriLanka

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Editors and Vahed | Iran: Solidarity with popular struggles against poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and repression Once again, the Iranian people are on the streets against their repressive rulers. Once again, the Islamic Republic has retaliated with extreme violence.

In solidarity with the people’s uprising in #Iran, we amplify this message by an independent trade union (trans. Sepideh Jodeyri): neither leaders from above; nor reliance on foreign powers or factions of the ruling class, offer genuine freedom, equality, and justice.

polity.lk/iran-solidar...

Editors | Governing in Anticipation of Backlash | polity.lk As Sri Lanka reels from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his address to the people on 30 November 2025...

The NPP's vision of governance is neutral to social identity and political power, therefore entrenching already existing inequalities, write the Editors in their closing reflection on #SriLanka in 2025.

polity.lk/governing-in...

Suriya Women’s Development Centre | Review and Repair Microfinance Authority Bill! Safeguard Women’s Dignity, Livelihoods, and Long-Term Security! Suriya Women’s Development Centre is a Batticaloa-based gender justice organisation founded in 1990.

The regulation of #microfinance in #SriLanka must ensure real protections for women borrowers, stricter oversight of unfair lending & abusive recovery practices, & enforceable safeguards during disasters and emergencies urges #Suriya

polity.lk/review-and-r...

Suriya Women’s Development Centre | Review and Repair Microfinance Authority Bill! Safeguard Women’s Dignity, Livelihoods, and Long-Term Security! Suriya Women’s Development Centre is a Batticaloa-based gender justice organisation founded in 1990.

The regulation of #microfinance in #SriLanka must ensure real protections for women borrowers, stricter oversight of unfair lending & abusive recovery practices, & enforceable safeguards during disasters and emergencies urges #Suriya

polity.lk/review-and-r...

Jayadeva Uyangoda | Year One of the NPP Government: Some Heretical Thoughts Jayadeva Uyangoda is emeritus professor of political science and public policy at the University of Colombo; and editor of the two-volume Democracy and Democratisation in Sri Lanka: Paths, Trends and ...

Jayadeva Uyangoda's report-card on Year 1 of the National People's Power (NPP) government, in the backdrop of South Asia's #GenZ-led uprisings, plus a postscript on #CycloneDitwah and forecast of political storms ahead #SriLanka.

polity.lk/jayadeva-uya...

As planetary politics roil from US invasion of #Venezuela & kidnap of Maduro & Flores with the aim of robbing its wealth, two past editorials on the unravelling global order: Jan 2023 polity.lk/palestine-an... ; and July 2025 polity.lk/there-is-gre... may be of interest #SriLanka

Top 20 Articles read in 2025 - polity.lk ‘When the Devil Drums, We Dance’: Sex Work and Sexual Violence in Wartime Sri Lanka - Radhika Hettiarachchi

The Polity Team Wishes Its Readers a Happy New Year!

Top 20 articles read in 2025: polity.lk/top-20-artic...

Collective | Best Reads 2025 Ponni Arasu is an independent scholar, activist, expressive arts therapist, translator, and theatre artist. Ameena Hussein is a writer of fiction and non-fiction and the co-founder of the Perera Husse...

Ponni Arasu, Ameena Hussein, Nubendra Liyanage, Madhubashani Disanayaka Ratnayake, Kalana Senaratne and Praveen Tilakaratne tell us the three top books they read this year. What were your favourites in 2025, and why?

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Chulani Kodikara and Amalini de Sayrah | Left Feminism in and after the Aragalaya Chulani Kodikara is a director of the Social Scientists’ Association and an editor of Polity. Amalini de Sayrah is a writer, photo-journalist, and activist.

The efforts of women in and around the 2022 #Aragalaya to give meaning and substance to the demand for "system change" from a left feminist perspective, are retraced by Chulani Kodikara and Amalini de Sayrah.

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Kumudini Samuel | Samanmali: A Life on the Frontlines of Women’s Struggles and Working-Class Resistance Kumudini Samuel is Director (Programs and Research) at the Women and Media Collective and the author of A Hidden History: Women’s Activism for Peace in Sri Lanka 1982-2002 (Colombo: Social Scientists’...

Samanmali of #DaBinduCollective stood at the intersection of political organising, feminist consciousness-building & working-class struggle. Kumudini Samuel recalls the life of a remarkable activist #SriLanka
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Kiran Kaur Grewal | The Im/Possibility of Justice in the Current Global Order Kiran Kaur Grewal is a human rights lawyer and scholar who is currently Visiting Professor in Gender Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

From under the rubble of Gaza, in the death rattle of the old order, a new form of justice for the peoples of the world can be built, argues @kirankgrewal.bsky.social in her 2025 Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Lecture #SriLanka

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B. Skanthakumar | The Great Flood Balasingham Skanthakumar is with the Social Scientists’ Association of Sri Lanka and an editor of Polity.

#CyloneDitwah laid waste last week. Reflecting on this latest climate calamity, @bskanthakumar.bsky.social invokes @amitav.bsky.social: public education and political will, are crucial in disaster preparedness & saving life #SriLankafloods

polity.lk/b-skanthakum...

B. Skanthakumar | The Great Flood Balasingham Skanthakumar is with the Social Scientists’ Association of Sri Lanka and an editor of Polity.

#CyloneDitwah laid waste last week. Reflecting on this latest climate calamity, @bskanthakumar.bsky.social invokes @amitav.bsky.social: public education and political will, are crucial in disaster preparedness & saving life #SriLankafloods

polity.lk/b-skanthakum...

As #CycloneDitwah's aftermath unfolds, humanitarian relief is vital. Amalini De Sayrah has curated a list of mutual aid appeals across #SriLanka. If you can help, please do so —and stay safe. #FloodSriLanka2025

📷: AFP

tinyurl.com/LKfloods25

Ruben Thurairajah | Of Heroes and Villains: Dutugemunu and Prabhakaran Ruben Thurairajah is a Yorkshire-based general practitioner in England; who also tweets https://x.com/RubenThurairaj and writes https://drruben.substack.com/

In #SriLanka, history is not the past but perpetual present writes Ruben Thurairajah. Dutugemunu and Prabhakaran as embodiments of Sinhalas & Tamils; each side finding in the other’s hero, the proof of its own wounds.

polity.lk/ruben-thurai...

Ishankha Singha Arachchi | Dying for the Target Ishankha Singha Arachchi is an executive committee member of the Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers Union (CMU), and a contributor to the Sunday Observer newspaper.

Dead. P. Pushpalatha (44), mother-of-two. Production-line worker in a #SriLanka's 'garments without guilt' flagship firm. Ishankha Singha Arachchi reports on the campaign for truth & justice by her family and unions.

polity.lk/ishankha-sin...

Janaka Biyanwila | One Year On: Reading the NPP “From Below and to the Left” Janaka Biyanwila (PhD., University of Western Australia) is the author most recently of Debt Crisis and Popular Social Protest in Sri Lanka: Citizenship, Development and Democracy Within Global North-...

Appraising the first 12 months of the #NPP government, Janaka Biyanwila argues that with mixed success, it has attempted to expand the "politics of the possible" in an unfavourable conjuncture for progressive movements.
polity.lk/janaka-biyan...

Janaka Biyanwila | One Year On: Reading the NPP “From Below and to the Left” Janaka Biyanwila (PhD., University of Western Australia) is the author most recently of Debt Crisis and Popular Social Protest in Sri Lanka: Citizenship, Development and Democracy Within Global North-...

Appraising the first 12 months of the #NPP government, Janaka Biyanwila argues that with mixed success, it has attempted to expand the "politics of the possible" in an unfavourable conjuncture for progressive movements.
polity.lk/janaka-biyan...