Asha L Abeyasekera
Biographic Data
| ID | 212910 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Asha L Abeyasekera |
| GIVEN NAMES | Asha L |
| FAMILY NAME | Abeyasekera |
| SIGNATURE | ABEYASEKERA A L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of York |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1173-5005 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 27 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 9 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The Ethics, Values, and Embodied Practices of Feminist Mentoring in Graduate school
Drawing on in-depth interviews with four first-generation women academics representing four generations of feminist scholars on their experiences of feminist mentoring in graduate school, I present a conceptual framework of core feminist ethics and values – the ethic of care, commitment to collectives and collaboration, practising reciprocity and hospitality, and acknowledging emotions – that distinguish feminist mentoring from traditional superv…
Intimate Evictability
Evictability' describes the role urban displacements play in the governance of 'unwanted' citizens in Europe where eviction is imminent yet uncertain. This paper proposes 'intimate evictability'. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the paper illuminates how the governance of the working-class poor via eviction and relocation interfaces with the intimate sphere to produce hostilities between kin. The life-stories of four women il…
The Buddha in the home’
This paper examines how home is produced by women under conditions of violence. It contends why domestic violence (DV) is not a disruption, but a ‘condition of possibility’ in the production of the ideal home. Drawing on cultural aphorisms the paper highlights the role of gender norms in simultaneously idealizing the mother and normalizing DV in Sri Lanka. The veneration of the mother in all ethno-religious communities, the paper argues, is condi…
The hundreds Lauren Berlant and Kathleen Stewart
Transnational Feminisms and Psychologies
Drawing from a larger study of non fatal suicidal behavior in Sri Lanka, we examine the narratives of two young women and their mothers following the daughter’s suicide-like act. These accounts offer insights into how the moral person is constructed in Sri Lanka and, particularly, what it means to be a good daughter and a good woman in Sri Lanka. We reflect on the implications that radically different conceptions of the self and personhood have f…
Embodied shame and gendered demeanours in young women in Sri Lanka
In South Asia, shame is valued as a virtue and a means of social control, particularly for women. For Sri Lankan women, shame ( læjja-baya) denotes modesty, purity, innocence, and self-effacement. For unmarried girls, sexual improprieties—rumoured or real—threaten loss of respectability and jeopardise a girl’s marriageability and her family’s honour. We investigated the dynamics of shame and norms of propriety in adolescent girls’ lives by re-ana…
Living for others
Marriage is a cultural imperative in Sri Lanka and is constructed as the principal source of personal fulfilment for women. This paper critically examines through two case studies – a never-married woman and a woman in a “failed” marriage – how women from older generations narrate their life histories using culturally coherent repertoires. By deconstructing the subject positions of the “long-suffering wife”, the “devoted mother”, and the “selfles…
Narratives of Choice
The shift to companionate marriage in South Asia and elsewhere is widely read as a move from ‘tradition’ to ‘modernity’ resulting in an expansion of individual agency, especially for women. This paper critically examines the narratives of urban middle-class women in Sri Lanka spanning three generations to illustrate that rather than indicating a radical shift in the way they negotiated between individual desires and social norms, the emphasis on …
Women's Well-Being
Narratives of Choice
The shift to companionate marriage in South Asia and elsewhere is widely read as a move from ‘tradition’ to ‘modernity’ resulting in an expansion of individual agency, especially for women. This paper critically examines the narratives of urban middle-class women in Sri Lanka spanning three generations to illustrate that rather than indicating a radical shift in the way they negotiated between individual desires and social norms, the emphasis on …
Living for others
Marriage is a cultural imperative in Sri Lanka and is constructed as the principal source of personal fulfilment for women. This paper critically examines through two case studies – a never-married woman and a woman in a “failed” marriage – how women from older generations narrate their life histories using culturally coherent repertoires. By deconstructing the subject positions of the “long-suffering wife”, the “devoted mother”, and the “selfles…
Embodied shame and gendered demeanours in young women in Sri Lanka
In South Asia, shame is valued as a virtue and a means of social control, particularly for women. For Sri Lankan women, shame ( læjja-baya) denotes modesty, purity, innocence, and self-effacement. For unmarried girls, sexual improprieties—rumoured or real—threaten loss of respectability and jeopardise a girl’s marriageability and her family’s honour. We investigated the dynamics of shame and norms of propriety in adolescent girls’ lives by re-ana…
Transnational Feminisms and Psychologies
Drawing from a larger study of non fatal suicidal behavior in Sri Lanka, we examine the narratives of two young women and their mothers following the daughter’s suicide-like act. These accounts offer insights into how the moral person is constructed in Sri Lanka and, particularly, what it means to be a good daughter and a good woman in Sri Lanka. We reflect on the implications that radically different conceptions of the self and personhood have f…
Intimate Evictability
Evictability' describes the role urban displacements play in the governance of 'unwanted' citizens in Europe where eviction is imminent yet uncertain. This paper proposes 'intimate evictability'. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the paper illuminates how the governance of the working-class poor via eviction and relocation interfaces with the intimate sphere to produce hostilities between kin. The life-stories of four women il…
The Buddha in the home’
This paper examines how home is produced by women under conditions of violence. It contends why domestic violence (DV) is not a disruption, but a ‘condition of possibility’ in the production of the ideal home. Drawing on cultural aphorisms the paper highlights the role of gender norms in simultaneously idealizing the mother and normalizing DV in Sri Lanka. The veneration of the mother in all ethno-religious communities, the paper argues, is condi…
Women's Well-Being
Narratives of Choice
The shift to companionate marriage in South Asia and elsewhere is widely read as a move from ‘tradition’ to ‘modernity’ resulting in an expansion of individual agency, especially for women. This paper critically examines the narratives of urban middle-class women in Sri Lanka spanning three generations to illustrate that rather than indicating a radical shift in the way they negotiated between individual desires and social norms, the emphasis on …
Living for others
Marriage is a cultural imperative in Sri Lanka and is constructed as the principal source of personal fulfilment for women. This paper critically examines through two case studies – a never-married woman and a woman in a “failed” marriage – how women from older generations narrate their life histories using culturally coherent repertoires. By deconstructing the subject positions of the “long-suffering wife”, the “devoted mother”, and the “selfles…
Embodied shame and gendered demeanours in young women in Sri Lanka
In South Asia, shame is valued as a virtue and a means of social control, particularly for women. For Sri Lankan women, shame ( læjja-baya) denotes modesty, purity, innocence, and self-effacement. For unmarried girls, sexual improprieties—rumoured or real—threaten loss of respectability and jeopardise a girl’s marriageability and her family’s honour. We investigated the dynamics of shame and norms of propriety in adolescent girls’ lives by re-ana…
The hundreds Lauren Berlant and Kathleen Stewart
Transnational Feminisms and Psychologies
Drawing from a larger study of non fatal suicidal behavior in Sri Lanka, we examine the narratives of two young women and their mothers following the daughter’s suicide-like act. These accounts offer insights into how the moral person is constructed in Sri Lanka and, particularly, what it means to be a good daughter and a good woman in Sri Lanka. We reflect on the implications that radically different conceptions of the self and personhood have f…
The Buddha in the home’
This paper examines how home is produced by women under conditions of violence. It contends why domestic violence (DV) is not a disruption, but a ‘condition of possibility’ in the production of the ideal home. Drawing on cultural aphorisms the paper highlights the role of gender norms in simultaneously idealizing the mother and normalizing DV in Sri Lanka. The veneration of the mother in all ethno-religious communities, the paper argues, is condi…
The Ethics, Values, and Embodied Practices of Feminist Mentoring in Graduate school
Drawing on in-depth interviews with four first-generation women academics representing four generations of feminist scholars on their experiences of feminist mentoring in graduate school, I present a conceptual framework of core feminist ethics and values – the ethic of care, commitment to collectives and collaboration, practising reciprocity and hospitality, and acknowledging emotions – that distinguish feminist mentoring from traditional superv…
Intimate Evictability
Evictability' describes the role urban displacements play in the governance of 'unwanted' citizens in Europe where eviction is imminent yet uncertain. This paper proposes 'intimate evictability'. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the paper illuminates how the governance of the working-class poor via eviction and relocation interfaces with the intimate sphere to produce hostilities between kin. The life-stories of four women il…
Sociology (7 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Psychoanalysis (4 works) · Psychology (4 works) · Anthropological Studies and Insights (3 works) · Narrative (3 works)