Amarnath Amarasingam
Biography
Can be reached at: amarnath0330@gmail.com. Amarnath Amarasingam is an Assistant Professor in the School of Religion, and is cross-appointed to the Department of Political Studies, at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. He is also an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. His research interests are in terrorism, radicalization and extremism, diaspora politics, post-war reconstruction, and the sociology of religion. He is the author of Pain, Pride, and Politics: Sri Lankan Tamil Activism in Canada (2015), and the co-editor of Sri Lanka: The Struggle for Peace in the Aftermath of War (2016). He has also written several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, has presented papers at over 100 national and international conferences, and has written for The New York Times, The Monkey Case, The Washington Post, CNN, Politico, The Atlantic, and Foreign Affairs. He has been interviewed on CNN, PBS Newshour, CBC, BBC, and a variety of other media outlets. He tweets at @AmarAmarasingam
Amarasingam is an experienced field researcher, having conducted hundreds of interviews for his PhD dissertation on social movement activism, organizational dynamics, and youth identity in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. He also conducted over 50 interviews with former fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) throughout the former war zones of Sri Lanka in 2013 and 2014. He has also conducted field research in Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Somalia, Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine. He co-directed a study on foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, based at the University of Waterloo, for six years during which he conducted numerous social media and in-person interviews with current and former foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, as well as parents and close friends of those who travelled to fight.
Amarasingam is an experienced field researcher, having conducted hundreds of interviews for his PhD dissertation on social movement activism, organizational dynamics, and youth identity in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. He also conducted over 50 interviews with former fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) throughout the former war zones of Sri Lanka in 2013 and 2014. He has also conducted field research in Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Somalia, Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine. He co-directed a study on foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, based at the University of Waterloo, for six years during which he conducted numerous social media and in-person interviews with current and former foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, as well as parents and close friends of those who travelled to fight.
Research Interests
- Diasporas
- Sociology of Religion
- Social Movements
- New Media
- Radicalization
- Sri Lankan Tamil Community in Canada
- Nationalism
- Political Violence and Terrorism
- Religion
- Race and Ethnicity
- Ethnicity
- Secularization
- Ethnic Studies
- Conspiracy Theories
- Secular Humanism
- New Atheism
- Atheism
- Romani Studies
- Community Resilience
- Resilience
- Tamil Migration and diaspora
- Media Studies
- Diaspora
- Banal nationalism
- Tamil
- Eschatology and Apocalypticism
- American Politics
- Cyberstudies
- Social Movement
- Barack Obama
- American Religion
- Sociology of Identity
- Christianity and Nationalism
- Culture Wars
- Internet Studies
- American Studies
- Sri Lanka
- Political Sociology
- Social Movement Studies
- Book of Revelation
- Hinduism
- South Asian Diasporas
- Diaspora Politics
- Tamil Studies
- South Asian Studies
- History of Tamil Language
- South Asian Diaspora
- Sri Lankan history
- Sri Lankan Studies
- Canadian Studies
- Canadian Culture & Identity
- The Tea Party Movement
- Right-wing Populism in the United States
- Right-Wing Movements
- Sri Lanka And Post Ltte Phase
- Religion and Politics
- Post-War Reconstruction
- Post conflict reconstruction in sri lanka
- Post-Conflict and Recovery
- Post-conflict Reconstruction and Development
- Post-Conflict Reconciliation
- Collective Memory
- Insurgency/Counterinsurgency(COIN)
- Reconciliation
- Transitional justice and reconciliation processes
- Transitional Justice
- Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration
- DDR
- Refugees and Forced Migration Studies
- Social Sciences
- Technology
- Culture
- Peacebuilding
- Peacekeeping
- Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief
- Stabilization and Reconstruction
- Post Conflict Issues
- Conflict
- Violence
- World Wide Web
- Truth Recovery
- Legal Profession
- Ex Combatants
- Restorative Justice
- Political Prisoners
- Amnesties
- Comparative Law
- Integration and Rehabiliation of Ex combatants
- Ssr
- Post-Conflict State Building
- The Internet
- Surveillance Studies
- Surveillance
- Surveillance and Control
- Foreign Fighters
- Jihadism and Radical Islamism
- Terrorism
- Islamism
- Jihadism
- Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- al-Qaeda
- Syrian Conflict
- Salafi-jihadist groups
- Syrian Civil War
Affiliations
Queen's University at Kingston, School of Religion, Faculty Member