Wasana Sampath Handapangoda
Biographic Data
| ID | 3590765 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Wasana Sampath Handapangoda |
| GIVEN NAMES | Wasana Sampath |
| FAMILY NAME | Handapangoda |
| SIGNATURE | HANDAPANGODA W S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Sri Jayewardenepura |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 20 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Producing and shaping migrant domestic workers’ everyday lives
This paper examines the role of migration brokers in producing and shaping the everyday lives of Sri Lankan live-in migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in the State of Kuwait: a long-established pattern of migration for paid household work in the Global South. While the paper is based on qualitative methods, it derives its theoretical inspiration from the field of sociology of translation, framing brokers as a form of ‘translational expertise’: an im…
A global migration industry in local contexts
This article investigates the transnational marketization and corporatization of domestic services by brokers. Polanyian, institutional logics, and intersectional perspectives and findings on capitalism and violence provide a theoretical framework to understand brokerage as mode of service provision creating and shaping hybrid and unequal work and care arrangements. The Austrian context is a paradigmatic example for the European mode of senior ho…
Sri Lanka’s entanglements with transnational migration
Peer-reviewed
A Regime Analysis
In this article, I use qualitative methods to examine the concept of a regime for migrant care based on Sri Lankan women’s transnational mobility as migrant domestic workers to Saudi Arabia. My work thus contributes to the growing body of literature on migrant care regimes from a Global South perspective, which to date has still received insufficient scholarly attention. The Sri Lanka–Saudi migrant care regime, shaped by a transnational conscious…
The Making of “ Passengers”
In this paper, I examine the process of migrant subject-making prior to departure based on the experiences of Sri Lankan women aspiring to become migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in the Arabian Gulf. Within a context of commodified, privatized and foreignized care migration regimes, women from developing countries have become "ideal" maids: cheap, docile and hardworking, they satisfy the growing social reproductive needs of more affluent countries…
Exploring tradition in heritage tourism
It has been argued that heritage tourism changes the meaning of cultural tradition as it comes to be treated as a commodity for touristic consumption. The notion is so widely held in contemporary heritage tourism studies that it gave inspiration and direction to this paper. Based on Sri Lanka's distinctive tradition of wooden masking, this paper explores the interface and interaction between heritage and tourism in the tensions between the 'authe…
Caught between extremes
In contemporary Sri Lanka, the commodification of local mask production resulting from cultural tourism has caught the traditional mask artisan in a tight spot between "tradition" and "modernity". The impacts of tourism are diversely received and interpreted within the local mask artisan community, with tourism simultaneously resulting in what can be called a "cultural discovery" and "cultural decline". Within this cultural debate, this paper is …
Is Transnational Labour Migration Empowering for Women? Re-evaluating the Case of Married Sri Lankan Domestic Maids
The empowerment potential of transnational labour migration by women has been debated in the field of women’s migration studies. This paper examines the case of women from Sri Lanka, a key home country of low-skilled female labour migrating to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Using the methodological approach of the case study, the survey found that labour migration does ensure that access to productive resources leads to a measure of economic…
The World at Her Fingertips
Over the past couple of decades, mobile phones have penetrated Sri Lanka at an unprecedented rate. The rate of adoption of cell phones in the country has been remarkably fast, and not gradual as in other nations. Yet, examination of the developmental impact of mobile phones has drawn surprisingly little attention in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this article attempts to investigate the empowering effect of mobile phones on dependent housewives in poor ho…
Can Money Buy Them Power? A Re-Evaluation of Women's Transnational Labor Migration and Their Household Empowerment in Sri Lanka
Empowerment has been recognized and legitimated as a constituent element of human development and as a major development assistance goal by many key international development agencies, for instance
Is Transnational Labour Migration Empowering for Women? Re-evaluating the Case of Married Sri Lankan Domestic Maids
The empowerment potential of transnational labour migration by women has been debated in the field of women’s migration studies. This paper examines the case of women from Sri Lanka, a key home country of low-skilled female labour migrating to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Using the methodological approach of the case study, the survey found that labour migration does ensure that access to productive resources leads to a measure of economic…
Exploring tradition in heritage tourism
It has been argued that heritage tourism changes the meaning of cultural tradition as it comes to be treated as a commodity for touristic consumption. The notion is so widely held in contemporary heritage tourism studies that it gave inspiration and direction to this paper. Based on Sri Lanka's distinctive tradition of wooden masking, this paper explores the interface and interaction between heritage and tourism in the tensions between the 'authe…
A global migration industry in local contexts
This article investigates the transnational marketization and corporatization of domestic services by brokers. Polanyian, institutional logics, and intersectional perspectives and findings on capitalism and violence provide a theoretical framework to understand brokerage as mode of service provision creating and shaping hybrid and unequal work and care arrangements. The Austrian context is a paradigmatic example for the European mode of senior ho…
The Making of “ Passengers”
In this paper, I examine the process of migrant subject-making prior to departure based on the experiences of Sri Lankan women aspiring to become migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in the Arabian Gulf. Within a context of commodified, privatized and foreignized care migration regimes, women from developing countries have become "ideal" maids: cheap, docile and hardworking, they satisfy the growing social reproductive needs of more affluent countries…
The World at Her Fingertips
Over the past couple of decades, mobile phones have penetrated Sri Lanka at an unprecedented rate. The rate of adoption of cell phones in the country has been remarkably fast, and not gradual as in other nations. Yet, examination of the developmental impact of mobile phones has drawn surprisingly little attention in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this article attempts to investigate the empowering effect of mobile phones on dependent housewives in poor ho…
Caught between extremes
In contemporary Sri Lanka, the commodification of local mask production resulting from cultural tourism has caught the traditional mask artisan in a tight spot between "tradition" and "modernity". The impacts of tourism are diversely received and interpreted within the local mask artisan community, with tourism simultaneously resulting in what can be called a "cultural discovery" and "cultural decline". Within this cultural debate, this paper is …
Can Money Buy Them Power? A Re-Evaluation of Women's Transnational Labor Migration and Their Household Empowerment in Sri Lanka
Empowerment has been recognized and legitimated as a constituent element of human development and as a major development assistance goal by many key international development agencies, for instance
Can Money Buy Them Power? A Re-Evaluation of Women's Transnational Labor Migration and Their Household Empowerment in Sri Lanka
Empowerment has been recognized and legitimated as a constituent element of human development and as a major development assistance goal by many key international development agencies, for instance
The World at Her Fingertips
Over the past couple of decades, mobile phones have penetrated Sri Lanka at an unprecedented rate. The rate of adoption of cell phones in the country has been remarkably fast, and not gradual as in other nations. Yet, examination of the developmental impact of mobile phones has drawn surprisingly little attention in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this article attempts to investigate the empowering effect of mobile phones on dependent housewives in poor ho…
Is Transnational Labour Migration Empowering for Women? Re-evaluating the Case of Married Sri Lankan Domestic Maids
The empowerment potential of transnational labour migration by women has been debated in the field of women’s migration studies. This paper examines the case of women from Sri Lanka, a key home country of low-skilled female labour migrating to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Using the methodological approach of the case study, the survey found that labour migration does ensure that access to productive resources leads to a measure of economic…
Caught between extremes
In contemporary Sri Lanka, the commodification of local mask production resulting from cultural tourism has caught the traditional mask artisan in a tight spot between "tradition" and "modernity". The impacts of tourism are diversely received and interpreted within the local mask artisan community, with tourism simultaneously resulting in what can be called a "cultural discovery" and "cultural decline". Within this cultural debate, this paper is …
Exploring tradition in heritage tourism
It has been argued that heritage tourism changes the meaning of cultural tradition as it comes to be treated as a commodity for touristic consumption. The notion is so widely held in contemporary heritage tourism studies that it gave inspiration and direction to this paper. Based on Sri Lanka's distinctive tradition of wooden masking, this paper explores the interface and interaction between heritage and tourism in the tensions between the 'authe…
A Regime Analysis
In this article, I use qualitative methods to examine the concept of a regime for migrant care based on Sri Lankan women’s transnational mobility as migrant domestic workers to Saudi Arabia. My work thus contributes to the growing body of literature on migrant care regimes from a Global South perspective, which to date has still received insufficient scholarly attention. The Sri Lanka–Saudi migrant care regime, shaped by a transnational conscious…
The Making of “ Passengers”
In this paper, I examine the process of migrant subject-making prior to departure based on the experiences of Sri Lankan women aspiring to become migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in the Arabian Gulf. Within a context of commodified, privatized and foreignized care migration regimes, women from developing countries have become "ideal" maids: cheap, docile and hardworking, they satisfy the growing social reproductive needs of more affluent countries…
Sri Lanka’s entanglements with transnational migration
Peer-reviewed
A global migration industry in local contexts
This article investigates the transnational marketization and corporatization of domestic services by brokers. Polanyian, institutional logics, and intersectional perspectives and findings on capitalism and violence provide a theoretical framework to understand brokerage as mode of service provision creating and shaping hybrid and unequal work and care arrangements. The Austrian context is a paradigmatic example for the European mode of senior ho…
Producing and shaping migrant domestic workers’ everyday lives
This paper examines the role of migration brokers in producing and shaping the everyday lives of Sri Lankan live-in migrant domestic workers (MDWs) in the State of Kuwait: a long-established pattern of migration for paid household work in the Global South. While the paper is based on qualitative methods, it derives its theoretical inspiration from the field of sociology of translation, framing brokers as a form of ‘translational expertise’: an im…
Economics (7 works) · Migration and Labor Dynamics (7 works) · Economic growth (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Sri lanka (6 works) · Business (4 works) · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity (4 works) · Socioeconomics (4 works) · Empowerment (3 works)