A Social Bond: India to Sri Lanka

By Ajeet Kumar Pankaj

The mobility program started with my arrival at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, on 19^th February 2024. I visited the Department of Sociology and Social Work, University of Peradeniya, and interacted with Ms Ishari Gunavrathne, who is a Lecturer at the Department and was coordinating my mobility. Office and working space were allocated to me at the Department, and I was also provided basic facilities, including access to the internet and library. The next day,  20^th February, the head of the Department of Sociology and Social Work organised a welcome meeting in the Department to introduce the faculties, research scholars, and Students of the Department. From this date onwards, I started conducting various activities as per the plan of the mobility, as described below:

1. Classroom teaching and lectures were conducted for Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students. The focus of the teaching was on the topics of emerging challenges of social work, independent practice research in social work, ethical issues, cultural sensitivity in social work research, evidence-based practice, evaluating theory & connecting theory to practice, cognitive behavioural theory, and feminist theory.
2. A joint article-writing process was started in collaboration with the department faculties. The title of the proposed article is ‘Social Work in India and Sri Lanka; Contemporary Social Issues in India and South Asia’ and ‘Precarity of ‘Legal’ Indian Migrants in Sri Lanka: Life Caught amid Survival and ‘Informality’.  
3. I also participated as an expert in the mid-semester evaluation of BSW students for their fieldwork activities.
4. A public lecture titled ‘Dalit Migrants: Assertion, Emancipation, and Social Change’ was delivered in the monthly seminar series of the Department of Sociology and Social Work.
5. A discussion was held with several faculty members of the Department to write a joint research proposal that will have the capacity to address issues of tea plantation workers in Sri Lanka and India. We decided to write a joint research proposal on ‘Issues and Challenges of Tamil Tea Plantation Workers’, and as part of writing this proposal, I also visited several tea estates to explore potential research sites.
6. I also initiated a collaboration with Prof. Tudor K. Silva, Professor Emeritus at the Department of Sociology and Social Work and started to write an article on ‘Navayana Buddhism in Sri Lanka and India’.