Staff profile

I am an LSE-trained social anthropologist with over two decades of fieldwork experience in Sri Lanka, and more recently the European Union. My research spans the anthropology of self-harm and suicide, charity, philanthropy, and humanitarianism, and agrochemicals and regulatory politics.My most recent book, The Sovereign Poison: Glyphosate, Poisoncraft, and Regulatory Politics (University of California Press, 2026, open access), examines the entanglement of agrochemical regulation, sovereignty, and knowledge politics. My forthcoming book, Philanthronationalism: Charity, Humanitarianism, and the Politics of Giving in Postwar Sri Lanka, explores how charitable giving in Sri Lanka has been captured by exclusivist Sinhala Buddhist nationalism and how urban communities navigate competing moral registers of generosity, belonging, and time. My first monograph, Suicide in Sri Lanka: The Anthropology of an Epidemic (Routledge, 2015), was based on my doctoral thesis and drew on practice theory to offer a new account of self-harm and suicide in rural Sri Lanka.I am currently leading a Leverhulme Trust research grant on Sri Lanka's agrochemical ban in 2021 and its aftermath. The project is using that event as a case study to explore the fragilities of agrochemical supplies in a time when recent global events have started to expose fundamental problems in food systems.I serve as Editor of Medical Anthropology, and have previously served as Section Editor for Medicine Anthropology Theory.I welcome enquiries from prospective postgraduate students interested in South Asia, medical anthropology, the anthropology of humanitarianism and charity, environmental and regulatory politics, or science and technology studies.

• Poisons, toxicities, and pollution
• Charity, philanthropy, and international development
• Ethnic and religious nationalism, especially in South Asia
• Global and planetary health

• 2026: Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness:
• 2017 - 2021: Medicine Anthropology Theory:

Authored book

• The Sovereign Poison: Glyphosate, Poisoncraft, and Regulatory Politics
  
  Widger, T. (2026). The Sovereign Poison: Glyphosate, Poisoncraft, and Regulatory Politics. University of California Press.
• Suicide in Sri Lanka: The anthropology of an epidemic
  
  Widger, T. (2015). Suicide in Sri Lanka: The anthropology of an epidemic. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315743707

Book review

• ‘Suicidology as a Social Practice’: A Reply.
  
  Widger, T. (2015). ‘Suicidology as a Social Practice’: A Reply. Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective, 4(3), 1-4.
• Pesticides and Global Health: Understanding Agrochemical Dependence and Investing in Sustainable Solutions
  
  Widger, T. (2015). Pesticides and Global Health: Understanding Agrochemical Dependence and Investing in Sustainable Solutions. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 29(2).
• In my mother’s house: civil war in Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T. (2014). In my mother’shouse: civil war in Sri Lanka. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 20(4), 164-165.
• Dance and the nation: performance, ritual, and politics in Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T. (2011). Dance and the nation: performance, ritual, and politics in Sri Lanka. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 17(2).
• History of a suicide: My sister’s unfinished life
  
  Widger, T. (n.d.). History of a suicide: My sister’s unfinished life. Centre for Medical Humanities. Advance online publication.

Chapter in book

• Monsoon uncertainties, Hydro-chemical Infrastructures, and Ecological Time in Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T., & Wickramasinghe, U. (2021). Monsoon uncertainties, Hydro-chemical Infrastructures, and Ecological Time in Sri Lanka. In E. Kirtsoglou & B. Simpson (Eds.), The Time of Anthropology: Studies of Contemporary Chronopolitics (pp. 122-141). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003087199-7
• Learning suicide and the limits of agency: children's 'suicide play' in Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T. (2015). Learning suicide and the limits of agency: children’s ’suicide play’ in Sri Lanka. In L. Broz & D. Münster (Eds.), Suicide and agency : anthropological perspectives on self-destruction, personhood and power. (pp. 165-182). Ashgate Publishing.
• Charity, philanthropy and development in Colombo, Sri Lanka
  
  Osella, F., Stirrat, R., & Widger, T. (2015). Charity, philanthropy and development in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In B. Morvaridi (Ed.), New philanthropy and social justice : debating the conceptual and policy discourse. (pp. 137-156). Policy Press.

Journal Article

• Business as Normal?
  
  Widger, T., Staples, J., & Marsland, R. (2026). Business as Normal? Medical Anthropology, 45(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2026.2617656
• Kin, friends, philanthronationalists: “Relations” as a modality of colonial and post-colonial charity in Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T. (2023). Kin, friends, philanthronationalists: “Relations” as a modality of colonial and post-colonial charity in Sri Lanka. Ethnography, 24(3), 432-449. https://doi.org/10.1177/14661381221134402
• Religious nationalism, strategic detachment, and the politics of vernacular humanitarianism in post-war Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T. (2023). Religious nationalism, strategic detachment, and the politics of vernacular humanitarianism in post-war Sri Lanka. Social Anthropology, 31(1), 67-84. https://doi.org/10.3167/saas.2023.310106
• Glyphosate regulation and sovereignty politics around the world
  
  Widger, T. (2021). Glyphosate regulation and sovereignty politics around the world. Anthropology Today, 37(4), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8322.12661
• Trading Futures: Sadaqah, Social Enterprise, and the Polytemporalities of Development Gifts
  
  Widger, T., & Osella, F. (2021). Trading Futures: Sadaqah, Social Enterprise, and the Polytemporalities of Development Gifts. Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, 2021(90), 106-119. https://doi.org/10.3167/fcl.2020.072006
• The HCT Index: a typology and index of health conspiracy theories with examples of use
  
  Stubbersfield, J. M., Widger, T., Russell, A. J., & Tehrani, J. J. (2021). The HCT Index: a typology and index of health conspiracy theories with examples of use. Wellcome Open Research, 6. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16790.1
• Suicides, poisons and the materially possible: The positive ambivalence of means restriction and critical–critical global health
  
  Widger, T. (2018). Suicides, poisons and the materially possible: The positive ambivalence of means restriction and critical–critical global health. Journal of Material Culture, 23(4), 396-412. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183518799525
• ‘You can give even if you only have ten rupees!’: Muslim charity in a Colombo housing scheme
  
  Osella, F., & Widger, T. (2018). ‘You can give even if you only have ten rupees!’: Muslim charity in a Colombo housing scheme. Modern Asian Studies, 52(1), 297-324. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0026749x1700021x
• Accumulation through nationalism: the politics of profit in “neoliberal” Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T. (2017). Accumulation through nationalism: the politics of profit in “neoliberal” Sri Lanka. Polity, 7(2), 31-37.
• Anti-Hesitation
  
  Widger, T. (2017). Anti-Hesitation. Anthropology of This Century, 18.
• Visions of philanthronationalism: the (in)equities of corporate good governance in Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T. (2016). Visions of philanthronationalism: the (in)equities of corporate good governance in Sri Lanka. Contemporary South Asia, 24(4), 400-415. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2016.1203861
• Philanthronationalism: junctures at the business-charity nexus in post-war Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T. (2016). Philanthronationalism: junctures at the business-charity nexus in post-war Sri Lanka. Development and Change, 47(1), 27-50. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12185
• Suicide and the 'Poison Complex': Toxic Relationalities, Child Development, and the Sri Lankan Self-Harm Epidemic
  
  Widger, T. (2015). Suicide and the ’Poison Complex’: Toxic Relationalities, Child Development, and the Sri Lankan Self-Harm Epidemic. Medical Anthropology, 34(6), 501-516. https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740.2015.1012616
• Reading Sri Lanka's suicide rate
  
  Widger, T. (2014). Reading Sri Lanka’s suicide rate. Modern Asian Studies, 48(03), 791-825. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0026749x1200073x
• Situating suicide as an anthropological problem: ethnographic approaches to understanding self-harm and self-inflicted death
  
  Staples, J., & Widger, T. (2012). Situating suicide as an anthropological problem: ethnographic approaches to understanding self-harm and self-inflicted death. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 36(2), 183-203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-012-9255-1
• Suffering, Frustration, and Anger: Class, Gender, and History in Sri Lankan Suicide Stories
  
  Widger, T. (2012). Suffering, Frustration, and Anger: Class, Gender, and History in Sri Lankan Suicide Stories. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 36(2), 225-244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11013-012-9250-6
• Suicide and the morality of kinship in Sri Lanka
  
  Widger, T. (2012). Suicide and the morality of kinship in Sri Lanka. Contributions to Indian Sociology, 46(1-2), 83-116. https://doi.org/10.1177/006996671104600205

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• In Pursuit of the Good Life: Aspiration and Suicide in Globalising South India
  
  Widger, T. (2015). In Pursuit of the Good Life: Aspiration and Suicide in Globalising South India [Review].