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.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Call for Papers: Debating Identity:Dialogues across Boundaries


Department of Sociology -  Faculty of Social Sciences

South Asian University

Performance by Bandu Manamperi, Colombo, Sri Lanka, December 2012

Call for Papers
Debating Identity:
Dialogues Across Boundaries
(Conference for Young Scholars and Researchers)
16 AN D 17 October 2014; SAU, New Delhi


Concept and background 

“An entity without an identity cannot exist because it would be nothing”, declared Aristotle. Contemporary history is replete with assertions rooted in questions of identity and representation. Identity formation occurs in the context of one’s relative position within the larger frameworks of class, caste, citizenship, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, race and religious affiliation and so on. The location within these is often essentialised and further negotiated through social, political, economic and cultural processes. Also, other large-scale processes of industrialisation, migration and urbanisation guided by certain prototypes of development, especially in the contemporary discourses, lead to issues of acculturation and assimilation where new forms of self get created and included with pre-existing ones. This very idea of inclusion calls for deliberation on the notion of exclusion and question of identities that are alienated.
The first half of 20th century witnessed mass annihilation and destruction. Colonisation and the two World Wars were consummated through the construction of excluded identities. The pogroms for elimination of indigenous populations in Australia and Americas and genocide of Jews trace their lineage to the issue of identities. In the context of South Asia, the two partitions implicating India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the civil unrest in Sri Lanka, the question of Madheshis and Pahadis in Nepal are not circuitously but directly linked to the issue of identity. If early 20th century was a struggle against colonialism, the latter part has been about struggles pertaining to identity formation and assertion of the Global South in the aftermath of colonialism and in the face of neo-liberalism. Neo-liberalism and globalization created new avenues identity formation and expression. Unprecedented changes have taken places in the realms of production and consumption; conspicuous consumption is on the rise thereby making it the new “opium of the masses”. Catchphrases such as ‘global village’ allude to a certain ‘global identity’. How are such identities constructed with respect to spatiality and temporality and how do they locate their subjectivities within larger frameworks? Further, in the present day ‘network society’, questions of manufactured identities in the wake of cybernetics and the biopolitics of biometric identity cannot be left aside. Thus, identity is not only a product of social processes but also an ingredient that goes into the making of these processes. Once created, identities are routinely maintained, altered and transformed over time. These transformations are set in intricate social, political and economic milieus.
Problematics pertaining to identity — ontological or epistemological are intricate, and therefore call for reflection and dialogue. Given these complexities, how does one engage with the category of identity? Do we start from the idea of the individual and the collective self and traverse across other zones of identity formation? What happens when multiple identities, coalesce, diverge and get juxtaposed as binaries? How do beings with several, coterminous identities view themselves within the larger structures they occupy? When we talk about binaries, are these felt binaries or are merely imposed upon by the observer?  The category of identity is unproblematic; it is the language of identity that is problematic. This takes us to George Orwell words: “The worst thing one can do with words is to surrender to them”. Taking this spirit forward, we will engage with and problematize the language as well as categories and multiple expressions of identity and explore how identities in different contexts get mediated and negotiated in assorted multi-layered settings. 

It is in the context outlined above that the Department of Sociology at South Asian University presents its first conference specifically for young scholars and researchers based on broad theme, ‘Debating Identity: Dialogues Across Boundaries.’

Eligibility

Papers are invited from candidates in MA and MPhil/PhD programs in social sciences and humanities at recognized universities and research organizations in South Asia. We also welcome contributions from individuals who are currently not enrolled in any university provided no more than one year has lapsed since their graduation with the last degree at the level of MA or above.

Conference sub-themes

  •  Identity, self and subjectivity
  • Identity: Spatiality, Geography and Cartography
  • Identity, Migration and Displacement
  • Cosmopolitanism and multiculturalism
  •  Poetry and the arts of resistance and assertion
  • Identity and changing epistemologies
  • Commodification and commercialization of Identity

Submission of guidelines

Initially, by 30th May 2014, an abstract of no more than 500 words has to be forwarded by  email as an attachment to: The Coordinator,  Debating Identity: Dialogues across Boundaries, Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, South Asian University, Akbar Bhawan, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021, India. Email address: scholars-conf@soc.sau.ac.in

 Authors of selected abstracts will be informed by email by 30th June 2014, and complete papers have to be submitted for plagiarism review by 15th September 2014.

Submission format

  • Abstract: 500 words; font should be Calibri point 11; 1.5 line spacing; no references and no footnotes.
  • Papers: no more than 7,000 words including footnotes and references; font should be Calibri point 11; 1.5 line spacing. For referencing and style guidelines please visit: http://www.sau.ac.in/pdf/SAU-SOC-JournalStyleGuide.pdf
  • Abstracts and papers must be submitted as MS Word documents via email.
  • The name of the file should be YourName_InstitutionAffiliation _DepartmentAffiliation.
  • The subject of the email should be: SOC-FSS-SAU-Young Scholars and Researchers Conference.
Inquiries

All inquiries should be addressed to the Coordinator - Debating Identity: Dialogues across Boundaries:  scholars-conf@soc.sau.ac.in
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