Senior Lecturer

Department of Language Studies

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Contact:
CRC, CRC, HSS Building, 1st Floor, Room 28
Office: +94 112881431, Ext: 431
Email: lmeda@ou.ac.lk

Teacher of English Literature, English Language and Creative Writing. Researcher of folktales and gender. Fiction writer
Profile Link

Positions held at OUSL

  • Language Editor, OUSL Journal: 2019 to present
  • President, Senior Common Room, OUSL: 2020 to present
  • Director Public Information Office, OUSL: February 2021 to June 2021
  • Editor-in-chief, OPEN Magazine, the OUSL newsletter: 2019 to 2021
  • Committee Member OUSL Research Sessions: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
  • Representative Library and Information Science for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: 2016 to present
  • Representative OUSL COVID-19 Responsive Task Force for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: 2020 to present
  • Syllabus Designer for the subject Appreciation of English Literary Texts for GCE Ordinary Level (Local) Examination 2015
  • Resource Person in English Language Teaching for National Youth Corps (NYC)
  • Convener for OUSL’s 30th Anniversary International Research Conference, 2012.
  • Conceptualizer and Editor-in-chief the Special Edition of the OUSL Newsletter created for the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) 2021 Conference held in Sri Lanka

Areas of Specialization:

English Literature, Folklore and Creative Writing

Research interests:

Folklore: Folktales; Gender: Feminine and Masculine

Affiliations:

Member – Sri Lanka English Teachers’ Association (SLELTA)

Member – Sri Lanka Association for Commonwealth Language and Literature

Programme Coordination:

BA in English and English Language Teaching Level 03

Course Coordination:

BA in English and English Language Teaching Level 03

Ongoing Research:

  • Air Mobility, Ten Heads and Universal Authority: Constructing Ravana in the Folk Imagination of Sabaragamua — a FolkoricStudy

Publications:

  • Medawattegedara, L. (2022).“A Sri Lankan Arrives in Hell”: A Case of Laughing at ‘Sri Lanka’ and the ‘Sri Lankan’ in a Collection of Modern Folktales in Humor and the Performance of Power in South Asia edited by SasankaPerera and DevNathPathak. Routledge India: 2022
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2021). Air Mobility, Ten Heads and Universal Authority: Constructing Ravana in the Folk Imagination of Sabaragamua — a FolkoricStudy.OUSL Journal 2021: Volume I, No. 2.
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2021). Nai-PolomgVairaya: Chronic Anger in an Ancient Folktale. Sadesa: Volume I, 2021
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2020).When Generous Gods Offer “Backhoe-Arm Load Of Gems”: Folk Ideas Found among Gem Miners ofthe Sabaragamuwa Region.OUSL Journal 2020: Volume 15, No 2.
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2020).Noise of Silence:Student Perceptions of :earning War Poetry through the ODL Mode. VISTAS, Volume 13, Issue 2.
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2019).“Your Majesty, your son is unable to learn?”: A Study of the Notions of ‘Learning’ and ‘Teaching’ Inscribed in aSample of Southern Folk Tales from Ancient Lanka.OUSL Journal 2020: Volume 14, No 2.
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2019).“IStarted a Joke”: What do HumorousTales Told by Female and MaleUndergraduates Tell us about TheirGendered Worldview/s?.VISTAS, Volume 12, Issue1.
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2017).‘Folk Ideas’ and ‘Worldview’ Inscribed in a Selection of Folktales Attributed to the Muslim Community ofthe East Coast of Sri Lanka, OUSL Journal 2017: Volume 12, No 2.
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2018).″Should my wives make a disturbance I will beat the whole of them… “: A Study of Gender-based Violence in Sinhala Folktales. Nivedini-Journal of Gender Studies Vol. 22 December 2018
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2015).“We Must Make Men”1: Constructions of Masculinities and Femininities in Parker’s Village Folk Tales of Ceylon.OUSL Journal 2015: Volume 9.
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2014). Masculinity—A Temporary Matter? Or an Open Window?: A Masculine Re-reading of the GCE A/L English Literature Anthology of Short Stories. Changing Paradigms in English Language Teaching: Selected Papers from the 7th International Conference of the Sri Lanka English Language Teachers’ Association, 2014.
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2012). Instrument of Power, Oppression or Deception?: The Politics of Bilingulaism in Sri Lankan Literature. VISTAS, the Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Volume 7 & 8, December 2012.
  • Medawattegedara, L. (2012). Pumping Iron: The Question of Masculinity in Blue Stories for Adults. PHOENIX: Sri Lank journal of English in the Commonwealth – Volume IX 2012.