Shermal Wijewardene
Biographic Data
| ID | 1433622 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shermal Wijewardene |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shermal |
| FAMILY NAME | Wijewardene |
| SIGNATURE | WIJEWARDENE S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Colombo |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 7 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 7 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Lesbian in/from South Asia: Erotic and political geographies
This special issue emerged from a two-pronged question: what it means to be lesbian in/from South Asia and what it means to be so in the contemporary moment. The contemporary is marked by both enduring and emergent forms of precarities, changing strategies of survival, intensified digitalization and transformations in global queer politics. Seeking to open up the ideas of "lesbian" and "South Asia" both individually and in relation to each other,…
The 'Cultural Life' of Democracy in Sri Lanka (And Beyond)
This forum brings together reflections on Sri Lanka’s recent political struggles (aragalya) that ousted the incumbent president, and yet ended in political stasis. These reflections provide the space to think through what makes up the ‘cultural life’ of democracy in aragalya and beyond. The trope of the ‘cultural life’ of democracy enables these contributions to sketch an alternative way of theorising democracy as ‘actually existing politics’
Chasing Queers with Cameras”: Objects, a “Prosthetic Man,” and the Impotent Witnessing of War in The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
It’s illegal but it’s not, like, really illegal”: Sri Lanka’s ‘sodomy laws’, the politics of equivocation, and queer men’s sexual citizenship in The One Who Loves You So
This paper explores the representation of queer men’s unequal sexual citizenship in Sri Lanka in a Sri Lankan Anglophone play, focusing on its problematisation of an ambiguous ‘sodomy’ prohibition. I examine The One Who Loves You So (2019), a text in which the illegality of queer men’s offline and online intimacies is paradoxically depicted as both affirmed and open to interpretation. The textual analysis is contextualised by the Sri Lankan state…
Jaded jezebels, chainsmokers, gypsies, and ninjas: Criminality and the refurbishment of lesbian identity and gender non-conforming identities in Sri Lankan newspaper narratives
This essay focuses on how Sinhala and English newspapers in Sri Lanka interpret and refurbish lesbian identity and gender non-conforming identities using tropes of criminality. My premise is that, despite the existence of British colonial laws against 'sodomy' and 'impersonation' in the Sri Lankan Penal Code, law does not offer a clear definition or interpretation that can act as an organizing narrative for these identities. Although newspapers c…
A Very Highly Political Job: Human Rights Practice, 'The Political', and Practitioners' Dilemmas in Sri Lanka
This article focuses on narratives of dilemmas and tensions arising from the relationship between human rights practice in Sri Lanka and what we broadly term ‘the political’: a) human rights practitioners' relationships with political parties (party politics); b) their relationship with the state; and c) their espousal of ‘alternative politics’ or politics beyond parties. Drawing on interviews with practitioners, we plot schemas—interconnected an…
A private vision: The inward space of women's creativity in Yasmine Gooneratne's writing
Jaded jezebels, chainsmokers, gypsies, and ninjas: Criminality and the refurbishment of lesbian identity and gender non-conforming identities in Sri Lankan newspaper narratives
This essay focuses on how Sinhala and English newspapers in Sri Lanka interpret and refurbish lesbian identity and gender non-conforming identities using tropes of criminality. My premise is that, despite the existence of British colonial laws against 'sodomy' and 'impersonation' in the Sri Lankan Penal Code, law does not offer a clear definition or interpretation that can act as an organizing narrative for these identities. Although newspapers c…
Chasing Queers with Cameras”: Objects, a “Prosthetic Man,” and the Impotent Witnessing of War in The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
A Very Highly Political Job: Human Rights Practice, 'The Political', and Practitioners' Dilemmas in Sri Lanka
This article focuses on narratives of dilemmas and tensions arising from the relationship between human rights practice in Sri Lanka and what we broadly term ‘the political’: a) human rights practitioners' relationships with political parties (party politics); b) their relationship with the state; and c) their espousal of ‘alternative politics’ or politics beyond parties. Drawing on interviews with practitioners, we plot schemas—interconnected an…
A private vision: The inward space of women's creativity in Yasmine Gooneratne's writing
A Very Highly Political Job: Human Rights Practice, 'The Political', and Practitioners' Dilemmas in Sri Lanka
This article focuses on narratives of dilemmas and tensions arising from the relationship between human rights practice in Sri Lanka and what we broadly term ‘the political’: a) human rights practitioners' relationships with political parties (party politics); b) their relationship with the state; and c) their espousal of ‘alternative politics’ or politics beyond parties. Drawing on interviews with practitioners, we plot schemas—interconnected an…
Jaded jezebels, chainsmokers, gypsies, and ninjas: Criminality and the refurbishment of lesbian identity and gender non-conforming identities in Sri Lankan newspaper narratives
This essay focuses on how Sinhala and English newspapers in Sri Lanka interpret and refurbish lesbian identity and gender non-conforming identities using tropes of criminality. My premise is that, despite the existence of British colonial laws against 'sodomy' and 'impersonation' in the Sri Lankan Penal Code, law does not offer a clear definition or interpretation that can act as an organizing narrative for these identities. Although newspapers c…
It’s illegal but it’s not, like, really illegal”: Sri Lanka’s ‘sodomy laws’, the politics of equivocation, and queer men’s sexual citizenship in The One Who Loves You So
This paper explores the representation of queer men’s unequal sexual citizenship in Sri Lanka in a Sri Lankan Anglophone play, focusing on its problematisation of an ambiguous ‘sodomy’ prohibition. I examine The One Who Loves You So (2019), a text in which the illegality of queer men’s offline and online intimacies is paradoxically depicted as both affirmed and open to interpretation. The textual analysis is contextualised by the Sri Lankan state…
Chasing Queers with Cameras”: Objects, a “Prosthetic Man,” and the Impotent Witnessing of War in The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
The 'Cultural Life' of Democracy in Sri Lanka (And Beyond)
This forum brings together reflections on Sri Lanka’s recent political struggles (aragalya) that ousted the incumbent president, and yet ended in political stasis. These reflections provide the space to think through what makes up the ‘cultural life’ of democracy in aragalya and beyond. The trope of the ‘cultural life’ of democracy enables these contributions to sketch an alternative way of theorising democracy as ‘actually existing politics’
Lesbian in/from South Asia: Erotic and political geographies
This special issue emerged from a two-pronged question: what it means to be lesbian in/from South Asia and what it means to be so in the contemporary moment. The contemporary is marked by both enduring and emergent forms of precarities, changing strategies of survival, intensified digitalization and transformations in global queer politics. Seeking to open up the ideas of "lesbian" and "South Asia" both individually and in relation to each other,…
Sociology (5 works) · Politics (4 works) · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues (3 works) · Art (3 works) · Political science (3 works) · Aesthetics (2 works) · Anthropology (2 works) · Epistemology (2 works) · Gender Studies (2 works) · Gender Studies (2 works)