Polity aims to advance democratic consciousness, gender equality, state reform, and social change in Sri Lanka, while interested in South Asia and the World.
As its predecessor Pravada (1991-2002), Polity is published by the Social Scientists’ Association in Colombo, with critical content on politics, political economy, history, women, ethnicity, sexualities, religion, labour studies, agrarian relations, nationalisms, violence, ecology, and much more.
Sri Lanka’s Left isn’t ‘Taking Democracy Seriously’
Devaka Gunawardena
The Left in Sri Lanka—currently more of an aspirational idea, than an active movement—is once again at the crossroads....
A call to action against the detention of Hejaaz Hizbullah and Ahnaf Jazeem, anti-Muslim violence, and attacks on democracy
Decades of majoritarian politics, and the more recent descent towards authoritarianism and militarisation, have eroded...
In Memoriam: Malathi de Alwis (1963 – 2021) and Qadri Ismail (1961 – 2021)
It is with deep sadness that Polity marks the untimely loss of not one but two great Sri Lankan scholars Malathi de...
Qadri Ismail (1961 – 2021): Abiding, Acknowledging, and Accounting for Intellectual Debts
Andi Schubert
Fuck 2021. Well, that seems like an appropriately Qadri-esque way[i] to open a reflection on his untimely and sudden...
Identity Formation in the Sinhalese Transnational Community in Toronto, Canada
Sankajaya Nanayakkara
The current literature on diaspora makes a break from the old assimilationist and methodologically nationalist...
Like Water to Soil: ‘Paangshu’ Between Politics and Rights
Prabha Manuratne
The director of the film Paangshu, Visakesa Chandrasekaram describes how his encounter with human rights violations in...
Current Issue
Out Now! Vol. 13 No. 2 (July – December 2025). 148 pages. #SriLanka. Politics. Cyclone Ditwah. Ecology. Feminism. Education. Justice. Domestic Violence Act. History. Culture. Work. Labour. Books. Cover Picture Sakuna M. Gamage. LKR1000 from the Social Scientists’ Association or Barefoot or SLBOOKS.lk.
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Archive
Pravada (1991-2002) and Polity (2003-) back issues available here.
Social Scientists’ Association
The Social Scientists’ Association (SSA) was founded in 1977, at a turning point in Sri Lankan politics, economy, and society, marked by among other aspects: the ‘open economy’ market reforms; deepening ethnic conflict; and the growing concentration of executive power. Its initiators were academics from public universities, seeking an autonomous space to grapple with these shifts; and to promote progressive political, economic, and social change.