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.

Society and Culture in South Asia: Style and Instruction Guide




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Society and Culture in South Asia
Style and Instruction Guide[1]
Submission

* All submissions must be submitted via email as an MS Word attachment and should be formatted according to the specifications and guidelines outlined in this document, and sent to the following email address: journal.sociology@soc.sau.ac.in

* Authors need to assign copyright for their essays and images to South Asian University prior to publication.  A copyright assignment form will be sent by the editor of the journal at the time a submission has been cleared for publication.

Basic formatting of manuscripts

* The first page of all essays and reviews need to display the title of the submission along with the full name, institutional affiliations of the author(s) and contact details (complete postal and email addresses and telephone and mobile numbers).
* In addition, please indicate on this page the total word count, inclusive of footnotes and references. No other information should appear on this page.

* Please do not number this page.

* The second page of the essay needs to provide the complete title of the essay accompanied by a brief abstract (in 150–200 words). This condition does not apply to review articles less than 1000 words. No other information should be placed on this page. This page should be considered the first page of the submission, and should be paginated accordingly.

* All essays should be typed using the font Calibri point 12 double spaced. This condition also applies to extended quotations and references as well.
* The main title should be Calibri point 14 and in bold and centered.
* All subheadings should be bold and aligned to the left.
* All essays should have margins of 2 cms on all sides.
* Abbreviations (eg., etc., i.e.) should only be used in parenthetical comments and not in the text itself within the text, they should be spelt out, for example, ‘et cetera’ and ‘that is.’
* Acronyms including those in common use should be spelled out at first occurrence, with the abbreviation following in parenthesis, for example World Trade Organization (WTO).
* The following conventions should be used when using hyphens, en dash, em dash:
- Use hyphens (-) to create compound words and to break a word across lines
- Use an en dash (–) for a range of numbers e.g. 75­–80
- Use an em dash (—) to mark an explanatory element in a sentence.
* Italics should be used for non-English words, which are not found in a standard English dictionary or which are otherwise uncommon. Translations of foreign words within parentheses are not to be italicised. Italics also should be sued book titles and journal names, and less frequently for emphasis.
* The following conventions are to be used when using capital letters:
- In general, capital letters should only be used for place names, personal names and at the beginning of sentences.
- In the main title, the first letter in all words should be a capital.
- In subheadings including the reference section, only the first letter of the first word should be in capitals, and the remainder would be governed by convections already outlined.

Book Reviews

* All book reviews must contain the name of the author and the title of the book reviewed, place of publication and name of publisher, year of publication, number of pages, ISBN number and price?, along with a .jpg image of the front cover of the book.

Images

* All images submitted (for photo essays as well as other submissions), must be at least 400 DPI in terms of resolution and in .jpg format. If it is not possible to email large images, please copy them on to a CD, and mail it to the following postal address: The Editor in Chief, Department of Sociology, South Asian University, Akbar Bhawan, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi 110021, India.

* Except in the case of photo essays, all images would usually be published in black and white except on rare occasions at the discretion of the Editor in Chief, and depending on the requirements of a specific submission.

Spelling and numerical usages

* Use standard British spelling throughout (eg., ‘labour’ and not ‘labor’, ‘centre’ and not ‘center’, ‘organise’ and not ‘organize’).The following conventions should be adhered to as well:  please use ‘thirteenth’ instead of ‘13th century’; use ‘1960s’ instead of ‘nineteen sixties’; spell out numbers from one to nine but from 10 and above, the usage should be numerical; in measurements, please use the following conventions: 5 kms, 20 l etc; please use thousands and millions instead of ‘lakhs’ and ‘crores’.

Quotations, Footnotes, and Tables and Figures

* Use single quotation marks for quotations within a given paragraph, and if needed, please use italics within quotations for emphases. Spellings of words in quotations should not be changed.

* Place end quotation marks before comma or full stop.

* If a quotation exceeds, 50 words, it should be separated from the main text with one line space above and below, and indented on the left and right margins by 1 CM.

* Tables and figures should be placed within the text and clearly identified  as ‘Table 1’ or ‘Figure 1’ and accompanied by necessary directions within brackets when needed (eg., ‘see Table1/ see Figure 1’). Please provide appropriate captions.

*However, please note that the production processes might necessitate the placement of tables and figures separately at the end of the essay, which will be at the discretion of the Editor in Chief. 
* Footnotes should be used instead of endnotes, and should be numbered serially using standard figures (eg., 1, 2, 3). The font should be Calibri point 8. However, footnotes should be used only when absolutely necessary to elaborate an issue that is already made in the main text.

References within the text

* References within the text should be placed in parentheses (eg., Gupta 2013: 145).

* If more than one publication by the same author is referred to, then the items should be presented in chronological order (eg., Marx 1952, 1957).

* To distinguish between different works by the same author in the same year, use the letters a, b, c etc in chronological order (eg., Smith 1995a, 1995b).

* For groups of citations, order alphabetically and not chronologically, using a semi-colon to separate names (eg., Ahmed 1987: 125; Sarkar 1987: 145; Wignaraja 1960: 62).

* Use ‘et al.’ when citing a work by more than two authors within the text, but list all the authors in the reference section.

* For quotations, please provide page numbers of the original source.
* All works cited in the text (including sources for tables, graphs, figures and maps) should be listed in the reference section at the very end of the essay.

References

* References should be at the very end of the essay or review.

* In the reference section s, all items should be listed in alphabetical order, giving the author’s surname first followed by initials. If more than one publication by the same author is listed, the items should be presented in chronological order; for different works by the same author in the same year, use the letters a, b, c, etc.

* When listing two or more works by the same author, repeat the author’s name for each entry.

* For multi-authored works, invert the name of the first author only (eg., Smith, W. and G. Jones).

* Books (single author): Caldeira, T. P. R. 2000. City of Walls: Crime, Segregation, and Citizenship in São Paulo. Berkeley: University of California Press.

* Books (multiple authors): Marcus, G and M.M.J. Fischer. 1986. Anthropology as Cultural Critique: An Experimental Moment in the Human Sciences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

* Book chapters: Donninger, C. 1986. ‘Is It Always Efficient to Be Nice? A Computer Simulation of Axelrod’s Computer Tournament,’ in A. Diekmann and P. Mitter (eds.,) Paradoxical Effects of Social Behavior. Heidelberg: Physica-Werlag, 123–34.

* Journal articles: Kapoor, Geetha. 1993. ‘When was Modernism in Indian/Third World Art?’ South Atlantic Quarterly, Vol. 92 (3):23-48. (The same general conventions can be adopted when presenting references for materials from newspapers or magazines).

* Books in other languages: Qidwai, B. A. 1980. Azadi ki Chhaon Mein [In Freedom’s Shadow]. Delhi: National Book Trust.
* Translations: de Certeau, M. 2002. The Practice of Everyday Life. Translated by Steven F. Rendall. Berkeley: University of California Press.

* Reference of an essay from a website or other internet source: Wickrema, A and P. Colenso. 2003, March. Respect for Diversity in Educational Publication ‐ The Sri Lankan Experience. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EDUCATION/Resources/ 278200‐ 112170327455/1439264‐1126807073059/Paper Final. Pdf (Last accessed on 10 March 2012).

* Reference of an unpublished source with a date and an author: Subramaniam, S.K.N. 2003. Politics of Sacred Space in Hindu Kovils in Northern Sri Lanka: A Sociological Analysis. PhD dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology. Jaffna: University of Jaffna.

* Reference of an unpublished source without a date but with and author: Islam, A. F. Date unavailable. Sufi Music in Northern India. Unpublished manuscript.

* Reference of a published source without a date: Samarasinghe, S.M. Date unavailable. Sinhala Verse Forms. Kandy: Sri Ram Press.

* Reference of sources where  publication date, the press and the city of publication are missing: Samarasinghe, S.M. Date unavailable. Sinhala Verse Forms. Publication information unavailable.

* Reference of an audio track from a published source (eg., audio tapes and compact discs): Khann, Bismillah. 2011. ‘Raga Kedar.’ In, Instrumentalists of India. Mumbai: Sony Music.

[1] Adapted with changes from the guidelines of JSAD and Dissertation Guide, Department of Sociology, South Asian University, 2012
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