Mr. Balasingham Skanthakumar

Kumar is an editor of Polity magazine and co-convenor of the ‘Critical Agrarian Studies’ seminar at SSA. He co-edited Up-Country Tamils: Charting A New Future in Sri Lanka (2019) and Pathways of the Left in Sri Lanka (2014); edited the annual ANNI report on national human rights institutions in Asia (2013-2016); and has published on development policy; human rights; language rights; Muslim family law; plantation communities; local government; labour studies; and left history, among other interests. He read law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London; where he also taught in the departments of law, and development studies. He has previously advocated for economic, social, and cultural rights; and been an international civil servant. He is a Council member of the Women’s Education and Research Centre (WERC) in Colombo; and was founder-director of Himal Southasian in Sri Lanka.

Dr. Devaka Gunawardena

Devaka is a political economist and Research Fellow at SSA. He holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of California – Los Angeles. He completed his field research on a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship in Sri Lanka on Export Processing Zones (EPZs). He has published articles in peer-reviewed academic journals such as the International Quarterly for Asian Studies and Political Power and Social Theory. His research interests include agrarian studies, development, labour relations, and international relations.