Nira Konjit Wickramasinghe is professor of modern South Asian studies at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and a well known international academic. She was a professor in the department of history and international relations,

University of Colombo (Buddhih Sarvatra Bhrajate) , mottoeng = ''Wisdom Enlightens'' , established = , endowment = Sri Lankan rupee, LKR 1.461 1,000,000,000 (number), billion

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, until 2009. She grew up in Paris and studied at the University of Paris IV - Sorbonne from 1981 to 1984 and at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from 1985 to 1989, where she earned her doctorate in

modern history The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is applie ...

. She joined the University of Colombo in 1990 and taught there until 2009. She has been a

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

Robert McNamara fellow, a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

senior scholar at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, a visiting professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, and more recently

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

Fellow at

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economic ...

. She is currently working on a history of the reception of the sewing machine in colonial Sri Lanka, a topic which she researched while on sabbatical at the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 2008–2009.

Select publications

Wickramasinghe has published the following books: * ''Sri Lanka in the Modern Age. A History'. Revised edn. New York, New Delhi : Oxford University Press, 2015 * ''Metallic Modern. Everyday Machines in Colonial Sri Lanka', Oxford: Berghahn Publ. 2014 * ''Sri Lanka in the modern age: A history of contested identities''. London: Hurst & Co. and Honolulu: University of Hawaii press, 2006. * ''Civil society in Sri Lanka: New circles of power''. New Delhi: Sage Publications, c2001.. * ''Ethnic politics in colonial Sri Lanka, 1927–1947'. New Delhi: Vikas Pub. House, 1995. * ''University space and values: Three essays'. Colombo: International Centre for Ethnic Studies Colombo, 2005. * ''L'Invention du Vetement national au Sri Lanka. Habiller le corps colonise'. Paris: Karthala Presse, 2006.

References

External links

*
Sri Lanka’s conflict: culture and lineages of the past
' 1964 births Living people 20th-century Sri Lankan historians Sinhalese people Sri Lankan academics Sinhalese writers University of Paris alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford Academic staff of the University of Colombo Sri Lankan women academics 21st-century Sri Lankan historians 20th-century Sri Lankan women writers 21st-century Sri Lankan women writers Sri Lankan women historians {{SriLanka-bio-stub