Jayadewa Uyangoda was a leftist student leader and a member of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) movement in the 1970s.

Later, he was released with other JVP rebels on an unconditional pardon by the newly appointed Jayawardena Regime in late 1970s.

Having released from the jail, he did his doctoral research in the University of Hawaii on Nationalism and State Formation in Bangladesh.

He remains one of Sri Lanka's most veteran commentators on ethnic conflict and human rights.

Uyangoda was the founder editor and later co-editor of Pravada, an academic journal in English that focuses on Sri Lanka and South Asia.