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.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

On Gender and Sexuality: Discourses, Dialogues and Praxis in Contemporary South Asia

Department of Sociology
Faculty of Social Sciences
South Asian University

Young Scholars’ Conference, 15 - 17 October 2015

On Gender and Sexuality:
Discourses, Dialogues and Praxis
in Contemporary South Asia

Call for Papers

In South Asia, the systematic analysis of issues pertaining to gender first emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, and even later with regard to sexuality. Research and practice engaging with questions of gender and sexuality have undergone critical changes in the past few years. From paradigms that were solely organized around binaries, dualisms and difference, there is now a discernible shift towards analysis and interpretation with regard to the diversity of gendered and sexual identities and practices, seeking to account for fragmented experiences, diverse representations and multiple perceptions of gender and sexuality within the South Asian region.


‘Measured, Stitched and Stretched’ (Painting by A.G Perera, 2010, Colombo)
Simultaneously, rapid socio-economic changes in the region continue to pose new challenges to conceptualizations, theorizations and gendered politics. In contemporary times, South Asia has been witness to many new socio-economic and political dynamics: the emergence of neoliberal ideologies and the global marketplace, militarization and war, religious revivalism, rising violence against women, the feminization of poverty, the emergence of LGBT movements and a simultaneous backlash to queer visibility, all amidst growing mediatisation, including via social media, which perforce give rise to new questions as to what constitute the analytical and critical categories necessary for thinking about gender and sexuality, and the way such categories actually operate in everyday social life.  

As part of their annual intellectual calendar, the graduate students of the Department of Sociology at South Asian University present the Young Scholars Conference on a specific theme, which is open to other graduate students, young researchers and teachers. Based on the theme, ‘On Gender and Sexuality: Discourses, Dialogues and Praxis in Contemporary South Asia’ and the outline above, we invite empirically grounded papers which critically reflect on gender and sexuality in South Asia through any of the following foci: 

  • Violence, marginalization, state institutions and state policies – experiences of conflict and war;
  • War, militarization and religious revivalism;
  • The gendered economy, neoliberalism, and economic restructuring;
  • Gender and sexuality in everyday life: households, domesticity, private and public spaces;
  • Masculinities;
  • Queer and LGBT communities, social movements and politics;
  • Visual media and cultural representations, new cultures of consumption and the body;
  • The virtual experience of gender and sexuality: cyberspace and social networks;
  • Resistive praxis, contemporary feminist debates, and social movements.

Through these papers, we hope to start a conversation on whether there is a need to rethink foundational questions and debates about gender and sexuality in South Asia in the contemporary context. How do we understand the articulation of gendered lives and sexualities with contemporary transformations in the social, cultural, economic and political domains? How do these developments manifest themselves in everyday experiences of gender relations, sexual identities and practices in different parts of South Asia, and how are they inflected at the intersections of caste, class, religion and ethnicity? Have new forms of resistance, voices and practices emerged regarding gendered violence, marginalization and labour, and how do state policies and institutions respond to these? Are alternative perspectives emerging from the new and massively increased visibility of issues around gender and sexuality in the public sphere?  

Eligibility

Papers are invited from candidates in MA and MPhil/PhD programs in the 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 passed since their graduation from at least an MA programme.

Submission Guidelines

Initially, by May 10th 2015, an abstract of no more than 500 words has to be forwarded by email as an attachment to: The Coordinator, On Gender and Sexuality: Discourses, Dialogues and Praxis in Contemporary South Asia, 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 May 22nd 2015, and complete papers have to be submitted for plagiarism review by September 15th 2015.

Inquiries

All inquiries should be addressed to the Coordinator - On Gender and Sexuality: Discourses, Dialogues and Praxis in Contemporary South Asia: scholars-conf@soc.sau.ac.in

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