Name: Chaminda Kumara WEERAWARDHANA
D.O.B: 14. 07. 1982
Sex: M
Address: Apt 413 B 1, No 5, Allée Guy CHARFF, 37200, Tours, France.
Tel: + 33 6 86 83 77 06
E Mail : chami82@voila.fr
Civil Status: Single

Education: (Secondary and Third Level)

2005-2006: Interdisciplinary Masters Degree Course at the François RABELAIS University1, Tours, France. My degree course entails the in-depth study of politics, literature and history. The programme is entitled Mondes Anglophones2.

2004- 2005: Interdisciplinary and bilingual Licence degree3 (Hons) from the François RABELAIS University at Tours, France (specialization in Literature, history and politics).

2003 – 2004: Second year at the University of Tours and successful graduation, obtaining the French Diplôme d’études universitaires générales (DEUG)4.

2002- 2003: 1st undergraduate year at the University of Tours.

2001: International French Language Diploma (Diplôme de langue française) from the Alliance Française de Paris5.

2001: Advanced Level Examination.

1998: General Certificate of Secondary Education.

Writing/ International Conference Presentations/ Publications:

Currently, I am working on my M.Phil thesis, which incorporates complex areas such as economic crisis/deprivation, paramilitarism and the struggle for self-determination in the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. Relatively few scholars have worked on paramilitarism in South Asia, and I am in the process of compiling a bibliographical record on paramilitarism as a global phenomenon and more specifically on paramilitary activity in Northern Sri Lanka6.

I will be presenting a paper at an international conference to be held at the Durrell School of Corfu from the 4th -9th of June 2006. The conference is entitled 'Empire and Aftermath: Core and Periphery'. The tentative title of my paper is: Influential experiments? Nationalism and Nation-Building in the 'Postcolonial' Space: Eire and Ceylon-Sri Lanka.

I have been invited to present a paper at an international graduate conference entitled ‘Literature and the City’ hosted by the City University of New York (CUNY), on March 23rd 2006. The title of my paper is City of violence, City of Trauma: Portrayals of Colombo by Three (Post-Conflict) Sri Lankan Writers.

I presented a paper at an international conference on African Studies held at the University of Nottingham (UK) on 27th January 2006. My paper is entitled Images of Africanness: Border-crossing, Identity Crisis and Politics of Race in Travelling with Djinns by Jamal Mahjoub. The conference programme is available at: http://crossingplaces.blogspot.com/

I presented a paper entitled Writing Conflict : Representations of Conflict by Three Sri Lankan writers7 at an international conference entitled Perspectives on Conflict, organized by the University of Salford (UK) on September 8th 2005. I am working on further developing this research project (i.e. the use/function of literature/writing as a tool for constructive conflict transformation in divided societies) and publishing it in book form in the near future. The conference programme can be read at:
www.esri.salford.ac.uk/seminars/forthcoming/perspectives_programme.doc

Poetry published in the Sri Lankan weekly The Sunday Times, in the Final Draft, anthology of creative writing annually published by the Young Writers’ Association of Sri Lanka (YWA).

Work Experience
November 2005: Part-time assignment at the main library of the University of Tours.

Summer 2005: Intensive summer internship at FEPP, a computer training centre in Nazellzs-Negron, France. I was fully initiated to all the subtleties of MS Word, PowerPoint, Access, Excel and Publisher. I was also trained to handle administrative chores and marketing strategies. I worked with the director on a proposed trade partnership with several Chinese firms.

2004- 2005: Part-time assignment at the library of the Department of English Studies, University of Tours8. I was responsible for:

Handling the computerized data system of the library during the lunch hour (12.00 noon to 13. 30)
Assisting the senior librarian (Ingénieur d’études) in documentation research work (related to the acquisition of new books and journals, etc.)
Reception of students, academics and visitors to the library and guiding them in their research and academic needs.

Summer 2004: Internship at Auralog9, internationally recognized firm specializing in e-learning. I held the functions of on-line tutor and marketing assistant and was responsible for:

Conducting sessions of online tutoring (for British English)
Administrative chores in a newly-opened language school in Paris
Marketing strategy. Attending meetings of the Marketing Dept., field work, surveys on our targeted market and the general interest in E-learning among the public, writing reports, presenting my findings at a weekly meeting chaired by the CEO of the firm.
Reception of clients at the E-Learning shop of the said language school.
Launching a telemarketing publicity campaign for our products.
Data processing and assisting the director in many official assignments.

October 2003- March 2004 : I Conducted an English Language Course for adults at FEPP10, a vocational training institute in Amboise (Central France), financed by the Conseil Général du Centre (a major regional governing body in the French system of provincial administration).

Summer 2003: A summer job in a restaurant (namely in one of the Buffalo Grill chain restaurants) in Tours, France.

April 2002- September 2002: I completed a Teacher-training Course (“Stage intensif aux métiers de Professorat de Français langue étrangère- FLE”) at the Alliance Française, soon after which I was appointed French language assistant (professeur stagiaire) at the Alliance Française de Kandy. I conducted French language lessons at the Beginners and Intermediate levels, and for London O Level (GCSE) students.

January 2002- June 2002: Assistant Boarding House Master at Trinity College, Kandy.11 I was responsible for:

24 hour supervision of the boarders, coordination of relations with pupils’ parents, supervision of discipline, academic work and extra-curricular activities.

October 2001- June 2002: Supply teacher at Trinity College, Kandy. I was in charge of:

Conducting a course entitled Initiation to Literature in English for grade 9 pupils.
A newly started pilot project for French language teaching.
Languages:

Bilingual (English12/Sinhala13), French (fluent), Tamil14 (fair), German (poor), Hindi (poor), Irish(currently taking lessons).

IT Skills:

Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and in the use of Internet Explorer. Many experiences in handling entirely computerized data systems effectively (e.g., this is the case with my present job in the university library. In summer 2004, (as an intern), I was forced to spend many work hours handling complex computer programmes as an online tutor and an administrative assistant of a complicated information structure.

Academic/Research Interests:

I am interested in subject areas related to the social sciences and humanities, very specially conflict resolution and peace studies. I frequently use the web resources of the Department of Peace Studies of the University of Bradford, the CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) project of the University of Ulster at Coleraine, the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the Berghoff Foundation for Constructive Conflict Management- Berlin, the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), London and many other NGOs and research organizations working on related issues.

Keen interest in issues related to immigration, exile, refugees and asylum seekers and race. I worked on a project on the Asylum seekers in Britain during the first semester of the academic year 2004-2005. I am a subscriber of the online newsletters of the Refugee Council (based in London) and of the weekly digest of articles of the Institute for Race Relations, London.

Voluntary work:

In conjunction with the Institute for Social Development, Kandy, Sri Lanka, a local NGO which focuses its work on the welfare of the Tamil plantation workers in central Sri Lanka. As a high School pupil, I took part in many awareness campaigns, workshops, and sessions of field work organized by this NGO.

Other:

Travelling, crossing national and territorial borders discovering new places and lifestyles. Making new friends, swimming, hiking, reading and creative writing (poetry, short stories and a planned novel –The saga of a Sri Lankan family from Jaffna which immigrates to France…) both in English and French; (& very specially theatre (I take part in one of the theatre workshops of the Department of English at Tours, in which we worked on contemporary British political theatre during the academic year 2004-2005).

References:

Available on Request.