![](/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Dr.-Sandunika-Hasangani.png)
Senior Lecturer (Grade II)
BA (Colombo), MA (TUFS-Tokyo, Japan), PhD (TUFS-Tokyo, Japan)Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Contact:
Central Campus, Colombo Regional Center, 1st floor, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences building, Room No: 15
Office: +94 112881083, Ext: 2410
E-mail: kahas@ou.ac.lk
Last Updated on 1 month
Areas of Specialization:Digital Ethnography, International Relations
Research interests:Ethnic tolerance, identity construction and communal relations on social media
New media and conflict
Political communication
Visual and multisensory International Relations/Politics
Visual peace research
Digital peacebuilding theory and practice
Social media data analysis; quantitative and mix-method research; visual data analysis
Computational Social Sciences
- 2020-Current – Varieties of Democracy Project, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
- 2019-Current – Member of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR)
- 2019-2020 – Member of Asian Studies Association, USA
- 2017-2019 – Member of British Association of South Asian Studies, UK
Awards:
- 2022-2023 – UNESCO Silk Roads Youth Research Grant
- 2019 – Linda Grove Graduate Paper Award, Asian Studies Association, Japan
- 2016-2019 – Japanese Government (MEXT) Full Scholarship for Doctoral Studies
- 2015 – 31st Eisaku Sato Award of Excellence, Eisaku Sato Memorial Foundation/United Nations University, Japan
- 2014-2016 – Japanese Government (MEXT) Full Scholarship for Graduate Studies
- 2022 – Conference Grant, Yale MacMillan Centre, Yale University, USA
- 2019 – Conference Grant, Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi, India
- 2017 – Conference Grant, East-West Center, Hawaii, USA
- 2017 – Conference Grant, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Education Fund
- 2015 – Field Research Grant, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Education Fund
Professional Qualifications/Training and Certificates:
- 2022 – Digital Peacebuilding 101: Introducing Technology for Peacebuilding – BuildUp
- 2022 – Disability Awareness and Sensitization Course for Academics – University of Colombo
- 2022 – Online Short Course in Disability Inclusive Education for Academics – University of Colombo
- 2021 – Teaching in Higher Education, The University of Hong Kong
- 2021 – International Data Workshop: South Asia, Clark Library, University of Michigan
- 2020 – Certificate in Basic Statistics, Institute of Applied Statistics, Sri Lanka
- 2018 – Certificates in Fundamentals of Data Science for Social Scientists, University of California Berkeley
- 2014 – Teacher Training in International Humanitarian Law, ICRC-Colombo/Faculty of Law, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
- 2014 – Certificate in Research Methodology, National Institute of Library and Information Sciences, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
- 2012 – Certificate in Project Management, National Institute of Business Management, Sri Lanka
- Hasangani, S. (2022-2023). “Shared medicinal practices along the Silk Road: Indigenization of Unani medical practice in Buddhist cultures” – Funded by UNESCO Silk Roads Youth Research Grant.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. “Do South Asians believe in Regionalism? SAARC and beyond, using Twitter data” (under review).
- Hasangani, Sandunika. and Ladd, Suren. “How do we teach from here? Early career educators’ dilemma of guiding Humanities/Arts and Social Science undergraduates (in Sri Lanka) to be industry ready” (under review).
- Hasangani, Sandunika and Suren Ladd. “Pedagogical pathways: The contribution of educator agency in addressing digital exclusion in Higher Education in Sri Lanka,” in Equality, inclusion, and exclusion: International perspectives on digital higher education and social justice. Eds. J. Torabian, A. Hadjar and A. Toom, Cambridge Scholars, 2024.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. “Visualizing everyday nationalism: An insight into the contemporary graffiti wave in Sri Lanka.”
Papers presented:
- Hasangani, S. and S. Jayasundara-Smits, “Tracing Indigenised Notion of Good Life; A Backward Journey Along the Ancient Silk Road,” EADI CESA-ISEG General Conference 2023, Lisbon, Portugal, 11 July 2023.
- Hasangani, S. “Does state collapse reduce ethnic salience/identification? A reflection on Sri Lanka’s internal turmoil in 2022”, Yale Modern South Asia Workshop (Yale Macmillan Center), Kathmandu, Nepal, 29-30 July 2022.
- Hasangani, S. “Social media and radicalization/ideological polarization: Preventive measures and policy implications,” Second BIMSTEC Think Tank Dialogue on Regional Security, Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi, 27-28 November 2019.
- Hasangani, S. “Virtual construction of Sinhalaness on social media in post-war Sri Lanka (2009-2018),” Asian Studies Conference Japan, University of Saitama, June 2019.
- Hasangani, S. “Non-fixity and Plurality of Ethnic Identity: The Case of Muslims in Sri Lanka,” ECPR General Conference, University of Oslo, Norway, September 6-9, 2017.
- Hasangani, S. “Experimenting the Theory of Balance of Power in a Domestic Context: The Case of Sinhalese-Muslim Intolerance in Post-War Sri Lanka,” 16th International Graduate Student Conference, East-West Centre/ University of Hawaii, USA, February 16-18, 2017.
- Hasangani, S. “Blurred Boundaries of Ethnicity: The Case of Muslims in Sri Lanka,” 7th Annual Symposium, Consortium for Asian and African Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan, October 22-23, 2016.
- Hasangani, S. “Social Revolutionary Dynamics of the Arab Spring: Foreign Policy Implications for Sri Lanka,” International Research Conference on ‘Sri Lanka in World Affairs.’ University of Colombo, July 03-04, 2014.
- Media intervention in the trajectory of post-war discourse: A case study of Sri Lanka 2009-2020” (ongoing PhD project, co-supervision at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka)
- Jayathilake. 2020. “The Effects on Digital Diplomacy in International Relations: Lessons for Sri Lanka,” LKI Policy Brief Series no. 23.
*Available to supervise Masters & Doctoral students as Principal/Co Supervisor.
Publications:Journals
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2024. “Prospects for Ethnic Harmony in Post-GoHomeGota Protest in Sri Lanka: An Analysis of #Aragalaya on Twitter.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, Vol.30 (2): 192-210.
- Hasangani, Sandunika and Shyamika Jayasundara-Smits. 2024. “A Material Inquiry into Paths of Peaceful Co-Existence and Interethnic Harmony in Late Antiquity in Sri Lanka.” Peace Review, Vol. 36 (1): 142-152.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2022. “Religious identification on Facebook visuals and (online) out-group intolerance: Experimenting the Sri Lankan case.” Journal of Asian and African Studies, Vol.57(2): 247-268. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096211008466
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2021. “Virtual ethnicity? The visual construction of ‘Sinhalaness’ on social media in Sri Lanka.” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, Vol. 45(3): 417-439. https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2021.1972551
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2021. “COVID-19 and India’s withering pandemic diplomacy.” The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 110 (4), p.512-513. https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2021.1956747
- Melegoda, Nayani and Sandunika Hasangani, 2020. “The Evolution of International Relations Scholarship and its Praxis in Sri Lanka: A Review of Historical Evidence,” Colombo Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Research, Vol.5(1-2), 97-119. http://doi.org/10.4038/cjmr.v5i1-2.56
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2019. “Social media and visual/textual framing of ethnic stereotypes: The virtual construction of Muslim image in post-war Sri Lanka,” Journal of Asian and African Studies (Japan), Vol.97:19-44.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2019. “The making and breaking of (de-facto) ethnic alliances: A constructivist reading of Sinhalese-Muslim relations in Sri Lanka during 1983-2015,” Journal of Language, Area and Cultural Studies, Vol.25:187-204.
Book Chapters
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2021. “Regionalism as a strategy to mitigate online radicalization: The role of BIMSTEC.” In BIMSTEC: The Journey and the way forward, Sreeradha Datta (ed.), New Delhi: Pentagon Press.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2015. “The Redemption.” In Write to Reconcile II: An Anthology, Shyam Selvadurai (ed.), p. 61-72. Colombo: National Peace Council. https://www.shyamselvadurai.com/doc/Write_to_Reconcile_Anthology_2.pdf
Other Publications
- Hasangani, Sandunika and Suren Ladd. 2023. “Preparing Arts/Social Science graduates in Sri Lanka for jobs.” LSE South Asia Centre.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2022. “Social Control or Trust? A journey through Tokyo’s railway manner posters.” IIAS Newsletter 93 Autumn, Leiden.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2022. “Do ethnic divisions disappear in the face of state collapse? A reflection on Sri Lanka’s internal crisis.” Insights, 719, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2020. “Tech Giants, ‘TechPlomacy’ and mitigating online radicalization: Lessons for Sri Lanka. LKI Policy Briefs Series No. 20.” Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies: Colombo.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2020. “Did Social Media Polarize Society in the Aftermath of Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Attacks?” LKI Blog. Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies: Colombo.
- Angela Huettemann, Pabasara Kannangara, Chathuni Pabasara and Sandunika Hasangani. 2020. “Opportunities for deeper bilateral relations in the COVID-19 era: Sri Lanka-Japan Relations.” DailyFT.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2016. ‘Blurred Boundaries of Ethnicity: The Case of Muslims in Sri Lanka.’ Consortium for Asian and African Studies, p.119-125. Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2015. ‘China and the United States in an era of Nonpolarity: Balancing role of the United Nations Amidst Global Issues and the Struggle for Power.’ Eisaku Sato Foundation/United Nations University.
- Hasangani, Sandunika. 2017. ‘Survivor.’ In The Power of Empathy, UNESCO (ed.), p.20-21. Paris: UNESCO.