Samanthi J Gunawardana
Biographic Data
| ID | 3697952 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Samanthi J Gunawardana |
| GIVEN NAMES | Samanthi J |
| FAMILY NAME | Gunawardana |
| SIGNATURE | GUNAWARDANA S J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Monash University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6676-472X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 32 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Caring ways of resistance in postwar Sri Lanka
Unpaid care work places a disproportionate burden on women, preventing their full economic, social and political participation. Demand for care work increases in postwar contexts and has been shown to contribute to creating everyday peace during and after war. Drawing on feminist political economy theorizing of social reproduction, this article argues that care serves a critical function in women’s postwar social movements, where the material con…
Teaching the International Political Economy (IPE) of everyday life through global groupwork
Even Though I Get a Loan, My Husband Controls It’: Rhetoric Versus Reality of Empowering Bangladeshi Women Through Microfinance Programs
This study investigates the development intervention of microfinance programs with women borrowers in strong patriarchal communities such as in rural Bangladesh. Using Rahman's framework (1999) of 'public transcript' vs. 'hidden transcript', we describe how women's structural vulnerability is understood and leveraged by the microfinance institutions (MFIs). The findings in this paper is based on data from 331 surveys and 40 in-depth interviews fr…
Paradoxical inclusion of India’s ex-untouchables in New Casteist media
Media as a site of reproduction of existing social relations and inequality is a significant area of research. This article explores how mainstream print media contributes to an area of entrenched inequality in India: caste-based inequalities and dominant-subordinate power relations. It explicitly examines how Dalit communities, who for centuries were forced to abide by casteist notions of hierarchy, are framed by Indian news media. A comparative…
A continuum of participation: Rethinking Tamil women’s political participation and agency in post-war Sri Lanka
In post-war contexts, attention is given to women’s participation and barriers to their participation in formal processes (for example, peace talks, economic initiatives, and elections). Yet, women have engaged in various activities to exercise collective and individual agency to impact political participation. This article examines how Tamil women’s political participation in post-war Sri Lanka exists along a continuum, from formal participation…
Carceral Spaces and Social Reproduction: Exploring Export Processing Zones in Sri Lanka and Prisons in Argentina
The article reflects on the ways in which social reproduction intersects with (im)mobility in export-processing zones in Sri Lanka and the outskirts of prisons in Argentina. Framing factories and prisons as “carceral spaces” and drawing upon diverse case study materials, it focuses on (i) the daily circulations and waiting that take place around these closely regulated sites and (ii) the relations of care that emerge in these sites. The article a…
Gendered State Assemblages and Temporary Labor Migration
This chapter draws on “assemblage thinking” to understand how the gendered state relates in seemingly contradictory ways to its citizens going overseas as temporary labor migrants. Using Sri Lanka as an illustrative case, the chapter presents the argument that there are three distinct but interrelated gendered state assemblages: regulatory gendered state assemblages, protective gendered state assemblages, and brokerage gendered state assemblages.…
To Finish, We Must Finish’: Everyday Practices of Depletion in Sri Lankan Export-Processing Zones
The integrative dynamic between social reproduction (SR) and the market economy is underscored by the everyday experience of what can be termed ‘depletion’ for many women in the Global South. Drawing upon case study material from Sri Lanka, this paper focuses on migration decisions to work in export-processing zones (EPZs) and everyday production processes. It shows how workplaces are sites of depletion. Depletion reproduces the processes of disp…
Reframing employee voice: A case study in Sri Lanka's export processing zones
Labour-intensive workplaces in export processing zones (EPZs) are typically characterized as 'sweatshop-like', devoid of voice mechanisms. Using ethnographic data in a Sri Lankan EPZ apparel factory and focusing on social interaction on the shop floor, the findings demonstrated the way workers exercised formal and informal voice individually and collectively. These findings are understood against a theoretical dialogue between interdisciplinary p…
Gender and global labour. Reflections on reading Donna L Chollett’s “renegotiating gender and class in the berry fields of Michaocan, Mexico”
Reframing employee voice: A case study in Sri Lanka's export processing zones
Labour-intensive workplaces in export processing zones (EPZs) are typically characterized as 'sweatshop-like', devoid of voice mechanisms. Using ethnographic data in a Sri Lankan EPZ apparel factory and focusing on social interaction on the shop floor, the findings demonstrated the way workers exercised formal and informal voice individually and collectively. These findings are understood against a theoretical dialogue between interdisciplinary p…
To Finish, We Must Finish’: Everyday Practices of Depletion in Sri Lankan Export-Processing Zones
The integrative dynamic between social reproduction (SR) and the market economy is underscored by the everyday experience of what can be termed ‘depletion’ for many women in the Global South. Drawing upon case study material from Sri Lanka, this paper focuses on migration decisions to work in export-processing zones (EPZs) and everyday production processes. It shows how workplaces are sites of depletion. Depletion reproduces the processes of disp…
A continuum of participation: Rethinking Tamil women’s political participation and agency in post-war Sri Lanka
In post-war contexts, attention is given to women’s participation and barriers to their participation in formal processes (for example, peace talks, economic initiatives, and elections). Yet, women have engaged in various activities to exercise collective and individual agency to impact political participation. This article examines how Tamil women’s political participation in post-war Sri Lanka exists along a continuum, from formal participation…
Even Though I Get a Loan, My Husband Controls It’: Rhetoric Versus Reality of Empowering Bangladeshi Women Through Microfinance Programs
This study investigates the development intervention of microfinance programs with women borrowers in strong patriarchal communities such as in rural Bangladesh. Using Rahman's framework (1999) of 'public transcript' vs. 'hidden transcript', we describe how women's structural vulnerability is understood and leveraged by the microfinance institutions (MFIs). The findings in this paper is based on data from 331 surveys and 40 in-depth interviews fr…
Caring ways of resistance in postwar Sri Lanka
Unpaid care work places a disproportionate burden on women, preventing their full economic, social and political participation. Demand for care work increases in postwar contexts and has been shown to contribute to creating everyday peace during and after war. Drawing on feminist political economy theorizing of social reproduction, this article argues that care serves a critical function in women’s postwar social movements, where the material con…
Paradoxical inclusion of India’s ex-untouchables in New Casteist media
Media as a site of reproduction of existing social relations and inequality is a significant area of research. This article explores how mainstream print media contributes to an area of entrenched inequality in India: caste-based inequalities and dominant-subordinate power relations. It explicitly examines how Dalit communities, who for centuries were forced to abide by casteist notions of hierarchy, are framed by Indian news media. A comparative…
Carceral Spaces and Social Reproduction: Exploring Export Processing Zones in Sri Lanka and Prisons in Argentina
The article reflects on the ways in which social reproduction intersects with (im)mobility in export-processing zones in Sri Lanka and the outskirts of prisons in Argentina. Framing factories and prisons as “carceral spaces” and drawing upon diverse case study materials, it focuses on (i) the daily circulations and waiting that take place around these closely regulated sites and (ii) the relations of care that emerge in these sites. The article a…
Gender and global labour. Reflections on reading Donna L Chollett’s “renegotiating gender and class in the berry fields of Michaocan, Mexico”
Reframing employee voice: A case study in Sri Lanka's export processing zones
Labour-intensive workplaces in export processing zones (EPZs) are typically characterized as 'sweatshop-like', devoid of voice mechanisms. Using ethnographic data in a Sri Lankan EPZ apparel factory and focusing on social interaction on the shop floor, the findings demonstrated the way workers exercised formal and informal voice individually and collectively. These findings are understood against a theoretical dialogue between interdisciplinary p…
To Finish, We Must Finish’: Everyday Practices of Depletion in Sri Lankan Export-Processing Zones
The integrative dynamic between social reproduction (SR) and the market economy is underscored by the everyday experience of what can be termed ‘depletion’ for many women in the Global South. Drawing upon case study material from Sri Lanka, this paper focuses on migration decisions to work in export-processing zones (EPZs) and everyday production processes. It shows how workplaces are sites of depletion. Depletion reproduces the processes of disp…
Gendered State Assemblages and Temporary Labor Migration
This chapter draws on “assemblage thinking” to understand how the gendered state relates in seemingly contradictory ways to its citizens going overseas as temporary labor migrants. Using Sri Lanka as an illustrative case, the chapter presents the argument that there are three distinct but interrelated gendered state assemblages: regulatory gendered state assemblages, protective gendered state assemblages, and brokerage gendered state assemblages.…
Carceral Spaces and Social Reproduction: Exploring Export Processing Zones in Sri Lanka and Prisons in Argentina
The article reflects on the ways in which social reproduction intersects with (im)mobility in export-processing zones in Sri Lanka and the outskirts of prisons in Argentina. Framing factories and prisons as “carceral spaces” and drawing upon diverse case study materials, it focuses on (i) the daily circulations and waiting that take place around these closely regulated sites and (ii) the relations of care that emerge in these sites. The article a…
A continuum of participation: Rethinking Tamil women’s political participation and agency in post-war Sri Lanka
In post-war contexts, attention is given to women’s participation and barriers to their participation in formal processes (for example, peace talks, economic initiatives, and elections). Yet, women have engaged in various activities to exercise collective and individual agency to impact political participation. This article examines how Tamil women’s political participation in post-war Sri Lanka exists along a continuum, from formal participation…
Even Though I Get a Loan, My Husband Controls It’: Rhetoric Versus Reality of Empowering Bangladeshi Women Through Microfinance Programs
This study investigates the development intervention of microfinance programs with women borrowers in strong patriarchal communities such as in rural Bangladesh. Using Rahman's framework (1999) of 'public transcript' vs. 'hidden transcript', we describe how women's structural vulnerability is understood and leveraged by the microfinance institutions (MFIs). The findings in this paper is based on data from 331 surveys and 40 in-depth interviews fr…
Paradoxical inclusion of India’s ex-untouchables in New Casteist media
Media as a site of reproduction of existing social relations and inequality is a significant area of research. This article explores how mainstream print media contributes to an area of entrenched inequality in India: caste-based inequalities and dominant-subordinate power relations. It explicitly examines how Dalit communities, who for centuries were forced to abide by casteist notions of hierarchy, are framed by Indian news media. A comparative…
Caring ways of resistance in postwar Sri Lanka
Unpaid care work places a disproportionate burden on women, preventing their full economic, social and political participation. Demand for care work increases in postwar contexts and has been shown to contribute to creating everyday peace during and after war. Drawing on feminist political economy theorizing of social reproduction, this article argues that care serves a critical function in women’s postwar social movements, where the material con…
Teaching the International Political Economy (IPE) of everyday life through global groupwork
Political science (9 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Politics (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Economics (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works) · Social science (4 works) · Agency (philosophy (3 works) · Business (3 works) · Gender Studies (3 works)