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, July 23, 2016

Press Release: Portraits of Resistance:


Portraits of Resistance:
An Exhibition of Contemporary 
Sri Lankan Art

Presented by
The Department of Sociology
South Asian University
New Delhi

In collaboration with
India International Centre, New Delhi
Society and Culture in South Asia
India-Sri Lanka Foundation, Delhi
Theertha International Artists Collective, Colombo

23 to 28 August 2016 from 11.00 am to 07.00 pm daily at the
Main Art Gallery, Kamaladevi Complex, IIC


The Idea
Pala Poyhupitiye, Landscape Series 1 (2012); Printed images, acrylic paint on watercolor paper
History is an inescapable process. As human beings, our bodies are inscribed with connotations that in many ways defy temporalities of existence. But our historically marked bodies dwell in a present with a desire to invent the future. Human beings’ desire to root themselves to a place and space where identity, communality and belonging matters to a great extent, and the urge to trace historical trajectories to know the ‘true’ past has obsessed humankind.

Anura Krishantha, Untitled II, (2016); Acrylic on paper
Within the discourse of visual art, artists have been unhesitating in interrogating history in the collective and individual memory, and often their interventions and engagements with historicity and remembrances have brought out narratives of resistance, voices of disquiet and foreboding aesthetics where the society is made not to forget. In this process, history is interpreted, recounted and mediated within their artistic personalities and particular intentions. In the hands of artists, temporality is extended, made to suspend or warped thereby letting history lose its linearity of progression. Allegory and metaphors in their aesthetic exercises add layers to the already subjective memories and selective histories framed via multiple interpretations.

Jagath Weerasinge, 'The Cause of Illness' (2011); Mixed Media on Paper
Each of the participating artists in this exhibition has tried to capture a portrait of a nation whose historical trajectory has gone through strained moments that are heavy with colonial legacies, homeland claims, armed conflict, autocratic rule and polarized ethnic politics.

Anoli Perera, 'White Chair I: Silent Sitters' (2015); Wooden Chair, Cloth Balls, Photos and Glass Balls
Participating Artists

Jagath Weerasinghe, Anoli Perera, Bandu Manamperi, Pala Pothupitiya, Anura Krishanta, Pradeep Chandrasiri, Pradeep Talawatte, Thisath Thoradeniya and Pushpakumara Koralegedera.
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