title: An exploration of Sri Lanka-based academics' perceptions about advancing social justice
Creators: name: Pradeepkumar, Hemalatha
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2023

description: There is a widely held notion, supported by scholarship, that institutions, academics, and practitioners of higher education can play an agential role in repairing the ills of society. This has created the expectation that they can be called upon to examine critically social issues at institutional, societal, cultural, political, economic and individual levels, and to effect practices aimed at social change. This study, in its analysis of academic’s perception, considers the question of how academics within a post-colonial, post-conflict context positions themselves, and their practice, as potential agents of change towards social justice. It focuses on the context of contemporary higher education in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s socio-political fabric has been predominantly shaped by colonialism, ethnic-conflict, intense politicisation, and neoliberalism. In such a context, academics’ capacity to
critique and engage in social justice interventions may be limited due to the dominant political culture and complex structures. In this thesis, therefore, I explore the changing nature of Sri Lankan higher education institutions and opportunities for critical contributions from academics towards constructive social change.
This study uses a qualitative approach to explore the complexities of academic identities and commitments associated with social injustice and the ways in which these relate to the critical consciousness and practices of academic staff. The study generated insights about their
different experiences and perceptions concerning the development of their critical consciousness, their level of commitment and their capacity for action to address social
injustices in their daily encounters. Nineteen academic staff from two public higher education institutions in Sri Lanka participated, with data generated through semi-structured interviews. That data was analysed inductively to generate themes related to academics' perceived need to become critically conscious of their social setting. The themes were then mapped to West’s conceptualisation of the four ways academics engage radically beyond the teaching and
learning parameters of the classroom. Using constant comparison analysis, the data were collated according to predefined themes such as subjugation, oppression, agency, voicelessness, and professional morals in relation to two conceptual frameworks: social justice and critical consciousness.
Findings indicate both complexity in the lives of Sri Lankan academics and ambivalence in their perceptions of higher education's commitment to social justice. Prolonged containment of academic freedom in Sri Lanka’s higher education system has resulted in academics feeling
disempowered, thereby limiting their agency. Yet the same restrictions have generated subtler forms of agency aimed at shaping hierarchical bureaucracies. In particular, it was found that conditions within the academic working environment are not conducive for contributing towards addressing issues of social injustice. Instead, the pervasive political culture of neoliberalism has encouraged two trajectories for academic careers: by becoming a self-centred professional; or by aligning with political parties which stand against the expectation that institutions and academics pursue a public good defined according to social justice.
Informed by these findings, a recommendation is that Sri Lanka’s higher education institutions and academics adopt a social justice framework as part of an academic development programme, in order to foster critical consciousness with a view to proactively generating ideas
for efforts and practices that aim to contribute to social justice. Furthermore, higher education institutions should establish a collaborative space for collective academic engagement to enable effective action, fostering nuanced changes within Sri Lanka’s broader community.