Jude Fernando

Associate Professor, Sustainability and Social Justice

Jude Fernando is completing a book, Political Economy of NGOs: Modernizing Post-modernity, which examines the controversial social roles of micro-credit NGOs in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and their links to the state, based on his long-term fieldwork in the 1990s. He was principal investigator for the project, “Sustainable Development and Civic Society,” funded by the Office of Sustainable Development and Intergovernmental Affairs of the U.S. Department of Commerce and in 2002 organized the international conference, “Sustainable Development in Urban Communities.” He has consulted for the Asia Foundation, IFAD and the World Bank. In Sri Lanka he worked in conflict zones for World Vision. Fernando previously taught at the Department of Geography and Regional Development and the International College at the University of Arizona; Dordt College, Iowa; and was a visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Last year, Fernando and his colleagues in Sri Lanka established the Alfa Children and Youth Training Institute in Sri Lanka (ACUIS), a non-governmental organization (NGO) to assist children and youth affected by the Southeast Asian Tsunami of 2004. ACUIS resulted from the lessons Fernando learned while working with tsunami victims and conducting participant observer research on humanitarian assistance provided by existing NGOs in the region. He found many of these organizations rarely invest much time and resources for creating a viable learning environment conducive for long term formal education and vocational training facilities that would lead to sustainable employment and resettlement for the displaced children and youth. Fernando felt that a fundamental pre-requisite for improving the quality of life for those is a viable learning environment that would complement the services provided by the public school system. By using an experimental child-centered rights based approach model to social change, Fernando hopes to combine academic research with practical projects aimed towards positive social change.

Degrees

  • Ph.D. in Economics, Anthropology, South Asian History, University of Pennsylvania, 1998
  • B.A. in Applied Economics, University of Peradeniya, 1986

Affiliated Department

Sustainability and Social Justice

Scholarly and creative works

  • Chapters In Books

    Geography in the 21st Century: Defining Moments that Shaped Society. London: Bloomsbury/
    Chapter: Civil War IN Sri Lanka, Funke, J.J., W. Ahmed, I. Chatterjee and S.M McCauley (eds.) Forthcoming 2024. Geography in the 21st Century: Defining Moments that Shaped Society. London: Bloomsbury/ABC-CLIO.

    Published by Bloomsburry
    2025
    Fernando
  • Chapters In Books

    Geography in the 21st century: Defining moments that shaped society 
    Chapter: Fernando, J. (2025). Pope Francis elected to head Roman Catholic Church (2013). In J. J. Funke, W. Ahmed, I. Chatterjee, & S. M. McCauley (Eds.), Geography in the 21st century: Defining moments that shaped society (Vol. 1–2, pp. 315–330). Bloomsbury Academic.

    Published by Bloomsbury Academic
    2025
    Jude Fernando
  • Other Scholarly or Creative Work

    1. Fernando, J. (2024, October 15). Education for system change: Proposal for critical thinking and civic responsibility curriculum. Daily FT. https://www.ft.lk/columns/Education-for-system-change-Proposal-for-critical-thinking-and-civic-responsibility-curriculum/4-767954Daily FT 2. Fernando, J. (2024, November 16). Dismantle 76-year charade: Rename and celebrate Independence Day as Memorial Day from 2025 onwards. Daily FT. https://www.ft.lk/columns/Dismantle-76-year-charade-Rename-and-celebrate-Independence-Day-as-Memorial-Day-from-2025-onwards/4-769295Daily FT 3. Fernando, J. (2024, September 28). Strengthening governance in Sri Lanka: Case for an External Policy Review Board. Daily FT. https://www.ft.lk/opinion/Strengthening-governance-in-Sri-Lanka-Case-for-an-External-Policy-Review-Board/14-767254Daily FT 4.Fernando, J. (2024, November 18). Reimagining Independence Day 2025: From Oppression To Honoring Freedom Struggles In All Communities. Colombo Telegraph. https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/reimagining-independence-day-2025-from-oppression-to-honoring-freedom-struggles-in-all-communities/ 5.Fernando, J. (2024, September 15). Vote NPP: A Path For Change & Freedom From UNP, SJB, & PA—The De Facto Alliance. Colombo Telegraph. https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/vote-npp-a-path-for-change-freedom-from-unp-sjb-pa-the-de-facto-alliance/Colombo Telegraph

    Jude Fernando
  • Chapters In Books

    Civil Society Across Asia
    Chapter: Fernando, U., Fernando, J., & Maathura, B. (2025). On the verge of an economic collapse and an uprising: Changing character of Sri Lankan CSOs. In A. Ogawa & A. J. Spires (Eds.), Varieties of Civil Society Across Asia (pp. xx-xx). Routledge

    Published by Routledge
    2024
    Jude Fernando
  • Presentations

    Fernando, J. (2024, October). Political ecology of war memorials: A multispecies justice approach to understanding memorials. Paper presented at the 52nd Annual Conference on South Asia, The Madison Concourse Hotel & Governor’s Club, Madison, WI. Fernando, J. (2024, October). Everyday forms of resistance and state formation in Sri Lanka. Paper presented at the 52nd Annual Conference on South Asia, The Madison Concourse Hotel & Governor’s Club, Madison, WI.

    Annual South Asia Conference
    Madison, WI
    October
    2024
    Jude Fernando
  • Chapters In Books

    Key thinkers on space and place
    Chapter: Amartya Sen

    Published by Sage
    2024
    Jude Fernando
  • Chapters In Books

    Key thinkers on space and place.3rd Edition.
    Chapter: Arturo Escobar

    Published by Sage
    2024
    Jude Fernando
  • Other Scholarly or Creative Work

    Fernando, J. L. (2022). The citizen’s uprising in Sri Lanka: A watershed moment against racial capitalism. Human Geography16(2), 181–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/19427786221123004

    Vol. 16
    Issue #1
    United States
    Jude L Fernando
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    Fernando, J. (2023). The citizen’s uprising in Sri Lanka: A watershed moment against racial capitalism. 

    Human Geography,
    2023
    Jude Fernando
  • Presentations

    Emancipation from the Pandemics of COVID-19 and Racial Capitalism: Search for new pathways for a ‘New Normal’ centered on Multispecies Justice,

    COLLOQUIUM
    University Of Kentucky,
    Friday, MARCH 12.
    2021
    Sponsored by Department of Anthropology
    Jude Fernando
  • Chapters In Books

    In Multi-religiosity in Contemporary Sri Lanka: Innovation, Shared Spaces, Contestation,
    Chapter: Hyper-religiosity, Ethnoreligious Nationalism, Neoliberalism, and Ethnic Violence in Sri Lanka: Pathways for Innovative Religious Responses to Peace and Justice.

    Published by Routledge
    2021
    Jude Fernando
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    From the Virocene to the Lovecene Epoch: Multispecies Justice as Critical Praxis for Virocene Disruptions and Vulnerabilities.

    Journal of Political Ecology
    2020
    Vol. 27:1
    Jude L Fernando
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    The Virocene Epoch: the vulnerability nexus of viruses, capitalism and racism.

    Journal of Political Ecology
    2020
    Vol. 27(1)
    Jude L Fernando
  • Presentations

    The Virocene: Racial Capitalism and the Risks and Vulnerabilities of the Pandemic.

    Anthropology Seminar
    University of Arizona
    October
    2020
    Sponsored by Department of Anthropology and University of Arizona
    Jude Fernando
  • Article in Refereed Journal

    Fernando, J. (submitted). Political ecology of war memorials: A multispecies justice approach to understanding memorials. Manuscript submitted for publication, Journal of Political Ecology.

    Journal of Political Ecology
    Jude Fernando

Awards and grants

  • Climate Change Adaptation in Maldives and Sri Lank

    USAID

    clock icon Dec. 1, 2021 – Dec. 31, 2022