Kumari Jayawardena (; born 1931) is a Sri Lankan

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

activist and academic. Her work is part of the canon of

Third-world feminism Postcolonial feminism is a form of feminism that developed as a response to feminism focusing solely on the experiences of women in Western cultures and former colonies. Postcolonial feminism seeks to account for the way that racism and the long- ...

which conceptualizes feminist philosophies as indigenous and unique to non-Western societies and nations rather than offshoots of Western feminism. She has taught at the

University of Colombo The University of Colombo (informally Colombo University or UoC) is a Public University, public research university located primarily in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is the oldest institution of modern higher education in Sri Lanka. Specialised in t ...

and the

International Institute of Social Studies The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam is an independent international graduate school of policy-oriented social science. ISS was established in 1952 by Dutch universities and the Netherlands Mini ...

. In the 1980s Jayawardena published '' Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World'', which has become a classic work on non-Western women's movements. She has published other books including ''The White Woman's Other Burden'' and written many articles. She founded the Social Scientists' Association in the 1970s and plays an active role in Sri Lankan

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

movements.

Early life

Jayawardena was born in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

in 1931, to a Sinhala father and a British mother, Eleanor Hutton. His father Agampodi Torontal Paulus de Zoysa popularly known as A. P. de Zoysa was a prominent social reformer and academic of Sri Lanka. She studied at the Ladies' College in Colombo and took a BA in Economics at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

(LSE) between 1952 and 1955. She was awarded the Certificat d'Etudes Politiques from the Institut d'etudes politiques de Paris (part of

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

) in 1956. Having qualified as a barrister in 1958, she received a PhD from LSE in 1964 for her thesis on industrial relations.

Career

From 1969 until 1985, Jayawardena taught

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

. She also taught a course on women and development as a visiting scholar at the

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. In the 1980s, as she travelled between Brussels (where she lived) and The Hague (where she taught) Jayawardena wrote what would become '' Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World''. It is a guide to women's movements in China, Egypt, Iran, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Vietnam. Jayawardena wanted to address the "gap about our part of the world" and felt that in order to "discuss the knowledge and status of women today, it is important to know what they have gained and how." The book was selected for the Feminist Fortnight award in the United Kingdom in 1986. ''

Ms. Magazine ''Ms.'' is an American feminist magazine co-founded in 1971 by journalist and social/political activist Gloria Steinem. It was the first national American feminist magazine. The original editors were Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Mary Thom, Pat Carbine ...

'' called it one of the twenty most important books of the feminist decades in 1992. This book is now regarded as a classic introduction to feminist movements and is widely used in

Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

programs around the world. Thirty years after its original publication, it was reissued by

Verso Books Verso Books (formerly New Left Books) is a publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of ''New Left Review'' (NLR) and includes Tariq Ali and Perry Anderson on its board of directors. According to its webs ...

. ''The White Woman's Other Burden'', published in 1995, analyzes the actions of white women who challenged the gender roles set by the British occupation of South Asia. Jayawardena specifically looks at the work of

Annie Besant Annie Besant (; Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was an English socialist, Theosophy (Blavatskian), theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist and campaigner for Indian nationalism. She was an arden ...

Helena Blavatsky Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (; – 8 May 1891), often known as Madame Blavatsky, was a Russian-born Mysticism, mystic and writer who emigrated to the United States where she co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an internat ...

Katherine Mayo Katherine Mayo (January 27, 1867 – October 9, 1940) was an American historian and nativist. Mayo entered the public sphere as a political writer advocating American nativism, opposition to non-white and Catholic immigration to the United Sta ...

, Mirra Richard and Madeleine Slade. Jayawardena plays an active role in women's research organizations and

movements in Sri Lanka. She founded the Social Scientists' Association in the 1970s and was still involved with it at the age of 85. It is a group of concerned scholars working on ethnic, gender and caste.

Selected works

Books

* ''The Rise of the Labor Movement in Ceylon'' (1972) North Carolina: Duke University Press * '' Feminism and Nationalism in the Third World'' (1986) London: Zed Books * ''The White Woman's Other Burden: Western Women and South Asia During British Rule'' (1995) New York: Routledge * (Co-edited with Malathi de Alwis) ''Embodied Violence Communalising Women's Sexuality in South Asia'' (1996) London: Zed Books * ''From Nobodies to Somebodies: The Rise of the Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka'' (1998) Colombo: Social Scientists' Association * ''Ethnic and Class Conflict in Sri Lanka: The Emergence of Sinhala-Buddhist Consciousness 1883-1983'' (2003) Sri Lanka: Sanjiva Books * ''Erasure of the Euro-Asian'' (2007) Colombo: Social Scientists' Association

Articles

* "Annie Besant's Many Lives" in ''Frontline'' (17 October 1997). * "The Women's Movement in Sri Lanka 1985-1995, A Glance Back Over Ten Years" (CENWOR, 1995). * "Sinhala Buddhism and the 'Daughters of the Soil'" in ''Pravda'' 1 (May 1992). * "Some Thoughts on the Left and the 'Woman Question' in South Asia" in ''Promissory Notes'' (eds) S. Kruks, R. Rapp and M. Young. (Monthly Review Press, 1989). * "The National Question and the Left Movement in Sri Lanka" in ''Facets of Ethnicity'' (eds) C. Abeysekera and N. Gunasinghe. (SSA, 1987). * "Feminist Consciousness in the Decade 1975-85" in ''UN Decades for Women—Progress and Achievements of Women in Sri Lanka'' (CENWOR, 1986). * "Bhikkus in Revolt" in ''Lanka Guardian'' ( May–July 1979). *"The Origins of the Left Movement in Sri Lanka" in ''Modern Ceylon Studies'' 2 (1971): 195-221. * "Economic and Political Factors in the 1915 Riots" in ''Journal of Asian Studies'' 29 (Feb 1970). * "Pioneer Rebels among the Colombo Working Class" in ''Young Socialist'' (Nov 1968).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jayawardena, Kumari Feminist studies scholars 1931 births Alumni of the London School of Economics Sciences Po alumni Academic staff of the University of Colombo Sri Lankan feminists Living people Sinhalese activists Sinhalese people Sri Lankan academics Multicultural feminism Sri Lankan women academics 20th-century Sri Lankan writers 20th-century Sri Lankan women writers 21st-century Sri Lankan women writers Academic staff of the International Institute of Social Studies Sri Lankan people of British descent Sri Lankan feminist writers