Democracy Protest and Resilience

Reflections on the Aragalaya Uprising in Sri Lanka

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

2 999 kr

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This book explores the rise and the fall of Aragalaya, a spontaneous protest movement demanding system change that erupted in Sri Lanka in the wake of the unprecedented economic crisis of 2022. With articles from Sri Lankan social scientists and activists with varied positionalities relating to peoples’ struggles, the volume captures their diverse views and interpretations of this largely non-violent democratic uprising. The 14 chapters deal with the social history, composition and the key drivers of Aragalaya; its politics and cultural dynamics; and the implications for democratisation, governance, and accountability. They elaborate the contrasting roles of mass media and social media in depicting and shaping the uprising and the particular role of artists, performers and social media influencers in moulding public opinion and mobilising the public to agitate against corruption and state repression. The book also highlights the possible way forward in terms of democratisation, development, stabilisation, peace and social harmony.Additionally, this book touches on the overall implications of the wave of democracy protests triggered by the Arab Spring of 2011, configuring Aragalaya as an important landmark in the global line-up of popular uprisings. The volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers of politics, development, popular culture, South Asian studies, and social sciences in general.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-11-02
Mått156 x 234 x undefined mm
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor344
FörlagTaylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN9781041033295

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Kalinga Tudor Silva is Professor Emeritus at University of Peradeniya and the research lead in the Hidden Peace Builders Project in Sri Lanka. He holds a BA from the University of Peradeniya and PhD from Monash University, Australia. He headed the Centre for Poverty Analysis from 2010 to 2013, and the International Centre for Ethnic Studies from 2007 to 2008.As a guest editor of the Journal of Caste and Social Exclusion published by the Brandeis University in the US, he contributed to the publication of a Symposium of Caste in Sri Lanka in 2025. He was the chief editor of the Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences published by the National Science Foundation from 2015 to 20. His publications include Decolonization, Development and Disease: A Social History of Malaria in Sri Lanka, 2014, and Checkpoint, Temple, Church and Mosque: a Collaborative Ethnography of War and Peace, 2015 and Why Reconciliation Matters (2022).Ramesh Ramasamy is a senior lecturer in Political Science at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. He obtained his Ph.D. under the NORHED project on Governance and Policy Studies in South Asia. His research interests are mainly on the quality of government, democracy, corruption, institutional trust, public service delivery, and citizenship rights. He has published articles in journals such as Contemporary South Asia, Asian Journal of Political Science, Policy Studies, Public Organization Review, and Journal of Youth Studies. He has contributed chapters to several edited volumes published by Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, Springer, and Oxford University Press.

PART I: POLITICS OF ARAGALAYA; 1. Introduction, 2. Aragalaya in Sri Lanka: Citizens’ Protests for Re-democratisation, 3. Aragalaya, Democratic Reawakening and Active Citizenship in Sri Lanka, 4. Locating Aragalaya on the Trajectory of Post-war Political Protest, 5. An Insider Perspective on Aragalaya; PART II: RELIGION AND RESISTANCE, 6. Religion, Resistance, and Interfaith Activism in Aragalaya, 7. The Catholics in the Aragalaya and the Aragalaya in the Catholic Church: Between Prophetic Witness and Institutional Pragmatics; PART III: MASS MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA AND PROTEST ART; 8. Analysing Aragalaya through the Lens of Mainstream Media, 9. Social Media as Civic Space for Political Participation in Aragalaya, 10. Aragalaya Art, Aesthetic Politics and the 2022 Occupy Galle Face Movement, Sri Lanka, 11. Protest and Transformation through Creative Art: Aragalaya as an Artscape; PART IV: DEMOCRACY PROTEST, CONTINUITY AND RESILIENCE; 12. Repression, Resilience and the Future of Aragalaya, 13. From Protest to Ballot: The Impact of the Aragalaya on Post-Aragalaya Electoral Politics in Sri Lanka, 14. Beyond Aragalaya