Malathi de Alwis (6th Oct 1963-21 Jan 2021, also known as Mala de Alwis) was a Sri Lankan anthropologist. She taught at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies and the Faculty of Graduate Studies 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 ...

. She wrote about militarism, nationalism and feminism.

Career

De Alwis earned her PhD in socio-cultural anthropology from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

, where she was a founding member of the Women Against War Coalition and a winner of the Ruth Murray Memorial Prize for Best Essay in Gender Studies. De Alwis was a senior research fellow at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies 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 ...

, Sri Lanka. She also taught as a visiting professor at

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

in New York City. She also taught in the MA Program in Women's Studies at the Faculty of Graduate Studies,

. She wrote about feminist issues such as militarised sexual violence and the memorialisation of grief. Writing with Kumari Jayawardena, she explored how traditional perspectives in gender can become fixed during times of conflict, commenting "fundamentalism uses women's bodies as a battlefield in its struggle to appropriate institutional power". In 2014, de Alwis produced an exhibition with photographer Sharni Jayawardena called "Invoking The Goddess: Pattini-Kannaki Devotion in Sri Lanka" at the

India International Centre The India International Centre (IIC) is a non-official organisation situated in New Delhi, India. Membership of the IIC includes artists, academicians, senior government officials, judges, jurists, parliamentarians, doctors, ministers, governors ...

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

Selected works

Books

*''Feminists Under Fire: Exchanges Across War Zones''. Co-edited with Wenona Giles, Edith Klein & Neluka Silva. Toronto: Between the Lines (2003). (This vol. has been translated into Serbian/Bosnian/Croatian, Sinhala & Tamil). *''Casting Pearls: The Women's Franchise Movement in Sri Lanka''. With Kumari Jayawardena. Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, 2001. *''Cat's Eye: A Feminist Gaze on Current Issues''. Colombo: Social Scientists' Association, 2000. *''Embodied Violence: Communalising Women's Sexuality in South Asia''. Co-edited with Kumari Jayawardena. Delhi: Kali for Women/London: Zed Press, 1996.

Articles

* * *"Feminism" in ''A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics'', eds. Joan Vincent and David Nugent. Boston: Blackwell, 2004. *"Beyond Gender: Towards a Feminist Analysis of Humanitarianism and Development in Sri Lanka" in ''Women's Studies Quarterly'', Vol. XXXI: 3&4, Fall/Winter 2003. With Jennifer Hyndman.

Sources

External links

Personal webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:de Alwis, Malathi Feminist studies scholars Sri Lankan anthropologists Sri Lankan feminists University of Chicago alumni Multicultural feminism Academic staff of the University of Colombo Sri Lankan women scientists The New School faculty