Dr Harini Amarasuriya has been appointed Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, the third woman to hold the role.
Dr Amarasuriya was a Nominated Fellow at IASH for three months in 2019, shortly before returning to Sri Lanka to become an MP.
At IASH, she worked on an ERC funded project The Anthropology of Conscience, Human Rights and Ethics, with colleagues from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh and National University of Singapore. The project looked at the social life of the idea of conscience as it emerged in the twentieth century, and especially as it was used in the mid-century development of human rights institutions and human rights practice. Her involvement in the project looked at the life of left-wing dissidents in Sri Lanka from the 1960s to the early 1990s, particularly those who were part of lesser known groups and movements that emerged at various moments during the 30-year civil war. Her research at IASH focused on the women’s movement and the influence of radical Christians on dissent in Sri Lanka, exploring ideas of intimacy and relationships, and its place in times of extraordinary violence and oppression.
Congratulations from all of us at the Institute on this tremendous achievement!
You can also read a biography of Sri Lanka's (and the world's) first female Prime Minister, Mrs Sirimivo Bandaranaike, over at the Dangerous Women Project: https://dangerouswomenproject.org/2016/07/11/sri-lanka-political-women/