Image: Courtesy of Dev N. Pathak, Sociology, SAU.
About The Department - Vision and Beyond



Over the last half century or so, a vast body of knowledge(s) on the region has evolved within South Asia that mostly remain within the countries of their origin due to a number of reasons. In this specific context, there is a crucial need to share some of this knowledge in contemporary times when, despite assertions of localisations and mini-narratives, the universal does retain its emphasis through a constant dialectics of the two. The debate between the local and universal or mini-narratives and meta-narratives continue to rage, and is more clearly visible in the context of South Asian context. Even so, we are acutely aware of the non-existence of regular and serious forums for South Asian scholarship in social sciences to showcase our own research and thinking. We are also quite conscious of the fact that the process of establishing sociology in the region has created its own peculiarities which has established close inter-relationships between sociology and social anthropology, history, cultural studies, archeology and other related disciplines. We consider the porousness of South Asian sociology one of its most enduring strengths. On the other hand, we are not unaware of the unfortunate regressions sociology has experienced in different South Asian contexts over the last 30 years or so marked by numerous institutional failures.



It is within the context(s) outlined above that the Department of Sociology at South Asian university, initiated in 2011 witihn the Faculty of Social Sciences contributes to teaching, training and knowledge production. It is not intended to be a mere forum for the production of cutting-edge intellectual knowledge and exchange of that knowledge traversing across national borders in South Asia and beyond. Our expectation is that this knowledge would dislocate the persistence of an imposed framework emanating from the colonisation process and postcolonial politics of knowledge. Despite the passage of over fifty years since the process of official decolonization began in the region, much of the analyses of our problems, situations, histories and dynamics emanate from Euro American academia; this is certainly the case when it comes to conceptual formulations and theoretical approaches that are being employed in exploring the region’s social and cultural complexities often without much self-reflection.



The Department of Sociology strongly believes in the need to reformulate this situation by effectively centering South Asia without naively shunning thought from these established centers of knowledge be they in Europe or North America. We believe in an active and robust engagement with these issues within South Asia. In this context, through the work of its faculty and the research of graduate students, the Department would bring forward the newer forms of knowledge that comprehends and represents the South Asian context with a more authoritative and nuanced voice. We strongly believe in the need to actively intervene in the process of knowledge formation through a constant sharing of knowledge that the region produces as well as through interaction with the world beyond the region.



The courses taught in the Department as well as the research carried out by its faculty members reflect this overall vision and our collective commitment towards innovation, move beyond untenable stereotypes, and explore a new world of knowledge within the discipline of Sociology.


Class of 2011, Department of Sociology, South Asian University; Image: Courtesy of Dev N. Pathak, Sociology, SAU.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Maoist Crossroads: Postponing New Democracy or Sensing the Limits of Agency?



Exploring South Asia Lecture Series - 2013

Department of Sociology

In collaboration with
Faculty of Social Sciences presents



The Maoist Crossroads:
Postponing New Democracy or Sensing the Limits of Agency?

by Chaitanya Mishra
Professor of Sociology
Tribhuvan University
Kathmandu


Monday, 02nd September 2013; 02:30 PM

@ Room 201, 2nd Floor, Akbar Bhawan, South Asian University, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi
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Thursday, August 22, 2013

Art and the Visual Public Sphere in Pakistan


Reading South Asia Lecture Series 2013

Art and the Visual Public Sphere in Pakistan

 

 
 
By
Prof Ifthikar Dadi
Head
Department of Art
Cornell University
 
26th August 2013; 03.00 pm
FSI HALL
South Asian University
Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021
 
All are welcome!
Please keep your mobile phones switched off during sessions.
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Thursday, August 8, 2013

Sociology Seminar Series 2013-14 (Monsoon Semester Schedule)




ALL ARE CORDIALLY INVITED
 Time: 02.30 PM 
Venue:
FSI Hall, Ground Floor, South Asian University, 
Akbar Bhawan, Chanakyapuri,
New Delhi 110021

(Please have your mobile phones switched off during sessions)


Date
Title
Presenter
7 August
Choreographic Occultation and Petrification of Meaning: Post-colonial Law and Alternative Subject
Neshat Quaiser,
Assoc. Professor
Jamia Milia Islamia, New Delhi, India
14 August
Is Caste Ethnicity and Why Does It Matter?: On Heterophobic and Heterophilic Casteism and Anti-Casteism
Balmurli Natrajan,
Assoc. Professor
William Patterson University of New Jersey, U.S.A.
4 September Privatization of Higher Education: Youth, Caste and Entrepreneurship in Contemporary India
Satendra Kumar
Assistant Professor
GB Pant Institute Allahabad, India
11 September
The Shimmering Landscape:  Mobility and Rootedness in Adivasi India
Kaushik Ghosh,
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
University of Texas at Austin, USA and
Associate Professor of Sociology
Shiv Nadar University, Noida, India
29 October
NGOs in Academic Research: Towards an Adequate Description
Pratyoush Onta,
Martin Chautari, Kathmandu, Nepal
30 October
What’s love got to do with it? - Filmic desire and call center stories
Mathangi Krishnamurthy,
Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, India
20 November
Title will be informed later
Michael Hoffmann,
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Halle, Germany
27 November
Title will be informed later
Sarada Balagopalan,
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi, India
4 December
Profane Relations: The Irony of Racist Jokes in India
Andrew Sanchez,
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Halle, Germany

Series Coordinators:
Diya Mehra and Ankur Datta
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