Dr Pamudu Tennakoon

Position Governing Body Fellow Junior Research Fellow
School Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty of History
Personal website ptennakoon
Email pmt37@cam.ac.uk
Department link History

Trained as both an art and architectural historian as well as a cultural anthropologist, Pamudu investigates how people occupy and traverse previously colonized cities and relate to the material remnants of colonial and postcolonial pasts in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Pamudu is an architectural and urban historian who holds a PhD in History of Art and Architecture from Brown University, where she concurrently completed an MA in Anthropology. Before her time at Brown University, Pamudu completed a BA majoring in the Growth and Structure of Cities and Fine Arts at Bryn Mawr College and an MPhil in Architecture at the University of Queensland. Pamudu’s research has been funded by the International Dissertation Research Fellowship awarded by the Social Sciences Research Council. At Cambridge University, Pamudu is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Faculty of History as part of the Colombo: Layered Histories in a Global South City research project.

The recent surge of interest and investment in colonial architecture in Colombo, Sri Lanka, demonstrates that colonial architecture still provides the backdrop for negotiations of the city’s history. Pamudu’s recent PhD dissertation centered on the 2021 demolition of the De Soysa, a colonial shophouse complex that stood in the neighborhood of Kompagngna Veediya for over a century. By refracting the long history of the De Soysa building and its material debris, Pamudu’s work unearthed how people continued to occupy and relate to the material remnants of their colonial pasts. This work emerged from her undergraduate and MPhil research on British and Dutch colonial structures in Colombo and Brisbane, from hospitals to bungalows.

While at Cambridge University as a part of the Colombo: Layered Histories in a Global South City project, Pamudu builds upon her doctoral research to look at the evolution of (post) colonial Colombo. Through architecture that has withstood the evolution of Colombo, this work expands on the larger political, social, and economic changes in the city. This project explores the intricate ways in which colonial cities evolve on the ground, using a range of sources that record tactics of engagement from everyday interactions to sweeping government declarations. Oral histories with architects, urbanists, activists, and urban dwellers opens a window into the evolution of the city through those who worked to shape the city and protect its architectural heritage. By following the archival architectural remnants through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Pamudu’s work further expands the traditional source base used to understand the history of Colombo.

What's on

Event Type (field_event_type)

Abstract painting featuring a simplified yellow outlined figure beside a faint sepia-toned face rendered on textured canvas.

Art Exhibition: 'Images and Other Conversations'

11/07/2026 at 10.00

Visit Wolfson's latest exhibition 'Images and Other Conversations', featuring work by artists Suleman Aqeel Khilji and Charlotte Winifred Guérard, winners of the Wolfson Royal Academy Schools Graduate Prize.

Wolfson College Sculpture Trail: Richard Bray

11/07/2026 at 10.00

Wolfson College is delighted to showcase the work of acclaimed Cambridgeshire-based artist and sculptor, Richard Bray MRSS, in collaboration with Cambridge Open Studios Festival in July.

Hong Kong Drinks Reception

17/07/2026 at 18.00

Join Wolfson President, Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu, and Wolfson Bye-Fellow Carol Yuen for a special alumni drinks reception at the American Club in Hong Kong!