Polity aims to advance democratic consciousness, gender equity, 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.
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...
Tea and Solidarity: Tamil Women and Work in Postwar Sri Lanka. Mythri Jegathesan. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2019. 288 pp
Reviewed by Nadia Augustyniak
As anthropology continues to grapple with the colonial, racialised, and exploitative undercurrents of the ethnographic...
The Doomed King: A Requiem for Sri Vikrama Rajasinha
Harini Amarasuriya
Polity Volume 7, Issue 2, pp. 78-80 (Download PDF) Harini Amarasuriya in her observations on Gananath...
R.A.L.H. Gunawardana – An Appreciation of His Life and Scholarly Contributions
Gananath Obeyesekere
Imagining Karma
Premakumara de Silva
Current Issue
Vol. 14 No. 1 (January – June 2026). 134 pages. Gananath Obeyesekere Memorial. NPP and Neutrality. Iran Solidarity. Justice for Easter Sunday. Chemmani. Cyclone Ditwah. Flood Relief. Microfinance Bill. Peasant Politics. Lunar Calendar. Partitions. Women’s Health. Malaiyaha History. Diasporic memory. Mannar’s ecology. Aloysius Peiris SJ. Cover image Ranjini Obeyesekere. LKR1000 from the Social Scientists’ Association or Barefoot or SLBOOKS.lk.
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.
