2 weeks Ago By Sahan Weerasooriya
Prof. Harshana Rambukwella passed away on Monday in Dubai, at the age of 49. Funeral arrangements will be notified later.
Prof. Rambukwella was Director, Postgraduate Institute of English, Open University of Sri Lanka. An alumnus of the English Department of University of Peradeniya, he received his PhD from the University of Hong Kong, where he was Honorary Assistant Professor at the School of English.
Prof. Rambukwella was the author of the Politics and Poetics of Authenticity: A Cultural Genealogy of Sinhala Nationalism (2018) published by University College London Press (UCL Press) and was a trustee of the Gratiaen Trust and member of the State Literary Sub-committee. His work has also appeared in a number of journals such as the Journal of Commonwealth Literature, boundary 2, and the Journal of Asian Studies.
He was a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Social Studies and Humanities at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests were in postcolonial literature, literary history and nationalism. The Gratiaen Trust in a message said: “It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Harshana Rambukwella, Trustee of the Gratiaen Trust, an inspiring literary critic and champion of Sri Lankan literature.
Harshana was an invaluable member of the Gratiaen Trust. His scholarship, generosity of spirit, and unwavering commitment to nurturing Sri Lankan writing in all its diversity made him an irreplaceable presence in our work and the wider literary community. His loss is deeply felt, not only by those of us who had the privilege of working alongside him but by writers, readers and scholars across the country and beyond”.
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