MBxCIDRN seminar: Beyond Interethnic Coexistence: Women’s everyday community making in ‘border villages’ in postwar Sri Lanka

Moondani Balluk x Community, Identity, & Displacement Research Network collaborative is hosting an in-person seminar on Beyond Interethnic Coexistence: Women’s everyday community making in ‘border villages’ in postwar Sri Lanka.

Date: 2nd Dec 2026

Time: 11:00 am - 12.00 pm

Location: Bulding G - Room G105, Lizzie & Uncle Jack Charles' Room, Moondani Balluk.

Victoria University - Footscray Park Campus

Viyanga examines how women in ‘border villages’ imagine and practice community in postwar Sri Lanka. Following a history of colonisation, ethnonationalist governance, three decades of civil war (1983-2009), and postwar rebuilding, the notions of ‘ethnic community,’ ‘ethnic war,’ and ‘interethnic coexistence’ are pervasive in academic and non-academic rhetoric on Sri Lanka. This has obscured grassroots lifeworlds and alternative forms of belonging. Starting thought from ordinary women in the so-called border villages and utilising a gendered lens, Viyanga’s research complicates the prevalent notions of community and interethnic coexistence in postwar Sri Lanka. Findings show that women’s everyday community making – memories, spaces, and practices - is not limited to notions of ethnic community, and belongingness goes beyond mere ‘interethnic coexistence.’

Presented by:

Viyanga Gunasekera is a PhD candidate at RegNet, ANU. Her research focuses on women's community making in postwar Sri Lanka with a special reference to border areas. Viyanga is trained as a social science researcher and is a Research Fellow at the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Sri Lanka. Her previous research includes women’s land rights and empowerment, women’s representation in politics, social inclusion and exclusion, psychosocial wellbeing of ex-combatants, and pluralistic memories of post-war Sri Lanka. Viyanga has a BA (General) and MPhil in Psychology from the University of Peradeniya. Viyanga’s research interests are in memory, peacebuilding, gender, and psychosocial wellbeing.