Malathi de Alwis
Encyclopedia
Malathi de Alwis is a feminist scholar and activist at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo
, Sri Lanka
. She also teaches in the MA Program in Women's Studies at the Faculty of Graduate Studies
, University of Colombo
and was Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, New York
, previously. She is currently coordinating a multi-sited, multi-lingual, multi-disciplinary research project entitled: "Post-Tsunami Reconstruction in Contexts of War: A grassroots study of the geo-politics of Humanitarianian Aid in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka and Aceh, Indonesia."
De Alwis earned her Ph.D.
in Socio-cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago
, where she was a founding member of the Women Against War Coalition and a winner of the Ruth Murray Memorial Prize for Best Essay in Gender Studies. She is also a poet and short story writer and has been involved in several film projects. She has for many years contributed to an anonymous feminist column, Cat's Eye, which is published every Wednesday in the English daily, The Island. Also, she likes bears.
"Much of my early work focused on gender
, nationalism
, militarism
and resistance culminating in my dissertation research on the conditions of possibility of motherhood in political protest in Sri Lanka
. I have extended my concern with these issues in two slightly different trajectories at present: (1) re-thinking feminist peace activism in Sri Lanka, especially how the category of the 'political' is constituted, mobilized and re-iterated and (2) interrogating the categories of suffering and sentiment — initially explored in conjunction with the category of motherhood — within the broader context of humanitarian aid in times of conflict and the more recent tsunami
which devastated vast swathes of the coast of Sri Lanka."
Colombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. She also teaches in the MA Program in Women's Studies at the Faculty of Graduate Studies
Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo
Faculty of Graduate Studies is one of seven faculties of the University of Colombo. The largest graduate school in the country, it conducts post-graduate degree programs in many fields, via on campus lectures and distance learning...
, University of Colombo
University of Colombo
The University of Colombo is a public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka...
and was Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, previously. She is currently coordinating a multi-sited, multi-lingual, multi-disciplinary research project entitled: "Post-Tsunami Reconstruction in Contexts of War: A grassroots study of the geo-politics of Humanitarianian Aid in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka and Aceh, Indonesia."
De Alwis earned her Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in Socio-cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, where she was a founding member of the Women Against War Coalition and a winner of the Ruth Murray Memorial Prize for Best Essay in Gender Studies. She is also a poet and short story writer and has been involved in several film projects. She has for many years contributed to an anonymous feminist column, Cat's Eye, which is published every Wednesday in the English daily, The Island. Also, she likes bears.
Research
De Alwis describes her research interests in the following manner:"Much of my early work focused on gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, militarism
Militarism
Militarism is defined as: the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests....
and resistance culminating in my dissertation research on the conditions of possibility of motherhood in political protest in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. I have extended my concern with these issues in two slightly different trajectories at present: (1) re-thinking feminist peace activism in Sri Lanka, especially how the category of the 'political' is constituted, mobilized and re-iterated and (2) interrogating the categories of suffering and sentiment — initially explored in conjunction with the category of motherhood — within the broader context of humanitarian aid in times of conflict and the more recent tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
which devastated vast swathes of the coast of Sri Lanka."
Selected Publications/Books
- Feminists Under Fire: Exchanges Across War Zones. Co-edited with Wenona Giles, Edith Klein & Neluka Silva. Toronto: Between the Lines (2003). (This vol. has been translated into Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian, Sinhala & Tamil).
- Casting Pearls: The Women's Franchise Movement in Sri Lanka. With Kumari Jayawardena. Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, 2001.
- Cat's Eye: A Feminist Gaze on Current Issues. Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, 2000.
- Embodied Violence: Communalising Women’s Sexuality in South Asia. Co-edited with Kumari Jayawardena. Delhi: Kali for Women/London: Zed Press, 1996.
Selected Publications/Articles
- "The 'Purity' of Displacement and the Re-territorialization of Longing : Muslim Women Refugees in North-Western Sri Lanka", in Sites of Violence: Feminist Politics in Conflict Zones, eds.Wenona Giles & Jennifer Hyndman. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
- “Feminism” in A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics, eds. Joan Vincent and David Nugent. Boston: Blackwell , 2004.
- “Beyond Gender: Towards a Feminist Analysis of Humanitarianism and Development in Sri Lanka” in Women’s Studies Quarterly, Vol. XXXI: 3&4, Fall/Winter 2003. With Jennifer Hyndman.
- “ ‘Housewives of the Public’: The Cultural Signification of the Sri Lankan Nation” in Crossing Borders & Shifting Boundaries, Vol.2, eds. Ilse Lenz, Helma Lutz, Mirjana Morokvasic-Muller, Claudia Schoning-Kalender & Helen Schwenken. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 2002.
- "Ambivalent Maternalisms: Cursing as Public Protest in Sri Lanka" in The Aftermath: Women in Post-war Reconstruction, eds. Meredeth Turshen, Sheila Meintjes & Anu Pillay. London: Zed Press, 2001.
- "The Contingent Politics of the Women's Movement in Sri Lanka", with Kumari Jayawardena, in Women in Post-Independence Sri Lanka, ed. Swarna Jayaweera. Delhi: Sage, 2002.
- "The 'Language of the Organs': The Political Purchase of Tears in Sri Lanka" in Haunting Violations: Feminist Criticisms & the Crisis of the 'Real, eds. Wendy Hesford and Wendy Kozol. Champagne: Univ. of Illinois Press, 2000.