Dhammasiri Udayagiriye

Specialization :: Sri Lankan Studies, South Asia, Religious Education, Education and Peace, Multi-ethnic Society

Academic Background

BA in Japanese, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka
MA in Humanities, Hiroshima University
PhD in Humanities, Hiroshima University

Biography

I am originally from Sri Lanka. I began learning Japanese in high school and, driven by a strong interest in Japan and the Japanese language, I studied at the Department of Japanese at a national university in Sri Lanka. After graduating, I came to Japan in 2017 to study at Hiroshima University.

My research has covered a wide range of topics related to Sri Lankan politics, religion, and society. Currently, my primary research focus is on education and peace. Having been born and raised in a region affected by civil war, and having personally experienced and witnessed the conflict, I have long grappled with the question: How should education, particularly religious education, be designed to foster peaceful coexistence in multi-ethnic and multi-religious societies? With the aim of promoting social cohesion and peaceful coexistence in post-civil-war Sri Lanka, I am exploring the potential of educational transformation.

Going forward, I hope to broaden my research beyond South Asia to examine religious conflicts in Southeast Asia and the role of education in addressing and resolving them. At the Center for Global Education, a place where people from diverse backgrounds come together, I look forward to engaging with students in discussions about the meaning of peaceful coexistence and peace, and to deepening our learning together.

Message to Students

Let’s learn the wisdom of peaceful coexistence through dialogue with people from diverse backgrounds and develop a strong sense of our own values and principles.