Social Scientists' Association

28/09/2026

𝐓𝐇𝐄 “𝐏𝐎𝐋𝐘𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐒” 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐍𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐋 by 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐦

Date: 𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝟎𝟔 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
Time: 𝟓:𝟎𝟎 𝐏𝐌 𝐭𝐨 𝟔:𝟑𝟎 𝐏𝐌
Location: 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬’ 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝟑𝟖𝟎/𝟖𝟔, 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐝, 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐨 𝟎𝟕.

For much of its history, Nepal has been on the relative periphery of global affairs and relatively isolated from global shocks. But as the country’s devastating recent flood made clear, it is now at the mercy of a compounding global “polycrisis” – including the climate crisis, but also digital authoritarianism, resource struggles and more – driven by forces largely outside its borders and its control. This talk will look at Nepal's breakneck confrontation with ecological turmoil, geopolitical commotion and domestic political change – especially in the wake of the 2025 Gen Z uprising – and ask whether the dawning age of existential global crises requires a new domestic politics in Nepal and a new regional politics in Southasia.

𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐆𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟓 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚, 𝐒𝐫𝐢 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐥. 𝐇𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝑯𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒂𝒏, 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝-𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧.

28/09/2026

Up to 𝟒𝟎% 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 for SSA publications from 𝟐𝟖 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝟎𝟗 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫, celebrating the Literary Month 2026!

Visit us at 380/86, Sarana Road, Colombo 07 to purchase.

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28/09/2026

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐢 𝐉𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐚 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞!

The Kumari Jayawardena Feminist Archive was launched in Colombo on 23 September 2026 by the Social Scientists’ Association of Sri Lanka (SSA). The occasion was graced by the presence of Dr. Kumari Jayawardena, and joined by scholars, activists and wellwishers.

Dr. Chulani Kodikara and Tehani Ariyaratne began by explaining the motivations for a digital archive of the women’s movement in Sri Lanka, honouring and beginning with the work of Kumari Jayawardena. They were followed by the SSA’s Chairperson Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, who recalled the pioneering contribution made by Kumari Jayawardena in the development of feminist consciousness in Sri Lanka from the 1970s onwards. Dr. Crystal Baines introduced the young team that created the digital archive and their journey as archivists. The event concluded with a tour of the archive website and anecdotes from its curators by Heshani Dharmapala and Tavishi Arunatileka.

The Kumari Jayawardena Feminist Archive is an effort to document and make accessible to new generations and a diverse audience, herstories of Sri Lanka’s women’s movement, beginning with the writings of Kumari Jayawardena as its inaugural collection. This unique digital repository began development in mid-2025 with the generous support of friends and admirers of Kumari Jayawardena, and was reinforced in 2026 through partnership with the New Delhi office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. Its collections will expand in coming months to include a ‘policy’ archive on family law and violence against women.

Visit the Kumari Jayawardena Feminist Archive at https://feministarc.org

25/09/2026

In Sri Lanka we don't know how many incidents of image-based sexual abuse (IBSA) occur annually or how many are formally reported by victim-survivors, writes Sely Liyanage. What we do know is that private images or videos of women frequently circulate without their consent across social media platforms.

Sely Liyanage is an assistant lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Ruhuna.

22/09/2026

𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐯𝐧𝐚𝐰𝐚: 𝐀 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐁𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐡𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 by 𝐃𝐫. 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐚𝐣𝐚𝐲𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐤𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐚

Date: 𝐖𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝟑𝟎 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔
Time: 𝟓:𝟎𝟎 𝐏𝐌 𝐭𝐨 𝟔:𝟑𝟎 𝐏𝐌
Location: 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬’ 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝟑𝟖𝟎/𝟖𝟔, 𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐑𝐝, 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐨 𝟎𝟕.

The Mahamevnawa Bhavana Asapuwa led by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda rose to prominence in the post-war period in Sri Lanka. The Mahamevnawa project is engaged with articulating a fundamentalist and modernist vision of Buddhism. Ven. Gnanananda is popular among young lay Buddhists in Sri Lanka and in the Sinhala transnational communities. A wide network of Mahamevnawa branches has emerged in Sri Lanka and worldwide over a short span of time.

The Mahamevnawa movement demonstrates a departure from political Buddhism associated with the Buddhist revivalist movement that took place in the mid-19th century low-country, coastal, and urban areas in Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is novel and somewhat controversial. Further, it has catalysed a wide network of Buddhist groups in the form of forest hermitages, meditation centers, and monasteries that demonstrates an in-depth engagement with Buddhist teaching and practice. The urban Sinhala middle classes and the Sinhala transnational communities play a key role in materially sustaining these new Buddhist movements and in return they gain solace from the dhamma transmitted by these sources.

The Mahamevnawa and the subsequent developments index to the shifting contours of the Buddhist imagination in post-war Sri Lanka. I use a theoretical lens that consists of the concepts of opportunities, mobilising structures, and framing processes to discuss the Mahamevnawa movement. My narrative is based on document analysis and ethnographic research. This work was supported by an Ashoka Grant of the Khyentse Foundation.

Dr. Sankajaya Nanayakkara is an independent researcher trained in sociology and anthropology.

18/09/2026

On 14 September 2026, The Social Scientists’ Association was joined by Lucia Michelutti, Jonathan Spencer, Miranda Sheild Johansson, Yathukulan Yogarajah, David Picherit, Kate Saunders-Hastings, and Ashraf Hoque for a panel based on their new book “Offers That Cannot Be Refused: An Anthropology of Extortion”. The speakers presented the outline of their research, and elaborated on the multi-faceted nature of extortion, its sociality and modalities, while also presenting case studies from Guatemala City, Britain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, and South and North India. Participants further contributed by raising questions on the political power imposed on extortion, as well as the ways in which consent and compliance interlace with the concept.

18/09/2026

Manoranjan Pegu reviews the Jantar Mantar protest in New Delhi, appraises the limits of the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) demand-driven mobilisation, and recalls the preceding bitter struggle of industrial workers, many young and educated. South Asia's youth uprisings reflect an expanding youth population confronting labour markets unable to provide sufficient secure employment or equal access to opportunities.

Manoranjan Pegu holds a PhD in Sociology and writes in a personal capacity on issues of tribes, labour and nationalism in India.

15/09/2026

Up to 40% discount for SSA publications from 28 September to 09 October, celebrating the Literary Month 2026!

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15/09/2026

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