Sasanka trained as a cultural anthropologist and served the Department of Sociology at the University of Colombo for a period of 20 years. From 2011 to 2024, he was based at the South Asian University in New Delhi.
His research interests include contemporary social theory with an emphasis on the idea of culture and its politics - politics of civil society organizations in governance and democratization, issues of devolution of power in Sri Lanka, and problems of urbanization, space and dynamics of urban experience in South Asia/ Sri Lanka.
He has also focused on the problems and politics of refugee proliferation, political violence, nationalism and post-violence trauma, transformation and politicization of religion in Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Sasanka has worked in Sri Lanka, USA, Cambodia, Pakistan and Nepal and has written extensively and published both locally and internationally in English and Sinhala.
