Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00380229231172133
Anurekha Chari Wagh
The article focuses on the challenges of interrogating privilege, so as to initiate a process of making classrooms space conducive to inclusive and collaborative learning. In doing so, it addresses three aspects of privilege; one, the need to make visible the ‘invisible’ presence of privilege and highlights the structures that renders it normalised and naturalised. Two, to emphasise the interrogation as a significant step towards democratising teaching and learning experience. Three, the necessity to reflect and document the pedagogical exercises essential to engage with privilege within the classrooms. The article using the autoethnographical method, places the ‘self’ at the core of interrogation and highlights the complexities of experience and the practice of self-reflexivity. In doing so the article makes an attempt to initiate a conversation on interrogation of one’s privilege as a pedagogical exercise.
{"title":"Interrogating Privilege: An Autoethnographic Pedagogical Exercise","authors":"Anurekha Chari Wagh","doi":"10.1177/00380229231172133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231172133","url":null,"abstract":"The article focuses on the challenges of interrogating privilege, so as to initiate a process of making classrooms space conducive to inclusive and collaborative learning. In doing so, it addresses three aspects of privilege; one, the need to make visible the ‘invisible’ presence of privilege and highlights the structures that renders it normalised and naturalised. Two, to emphasise the interrogation as a significant step towards democratising teaching and learning experience. Three, the necessity to reflect and document the pedagogical exercises essential to engage with privilege within the classrooms. The article using the autoethnographical method, places the ‘self’ at the core of interrogation and highlights the complexities of experience and the practice of self-reflexivity. In doing so the article makes an attempt to initiate a conversation on interrogation of one’s privilege as a pedagogical exercise.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"294 - 312"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42083995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-07-01DOI: 10.1177/00380229231172859
S. Munshi
Even though Radhakamal Mukerjee is recognised as a founding father of sociology in India, he has remained a neglected figure in his own country. This lecture attempts to make his major writings more accessible. They are seen in the context of his life as he lived it, with an emphasis on some formative influences, biographical and societal, of his early life. This leads to an argument about his writings that highlights his overriding concern with universalising sociology by overcoming its narrowness so that it may contribute to the welfare of humanity. It is further argued that he is relevant to us at present in the face of the challenges of environmental degradation, the persisting pandemic, war, and our tendency to face these challenges not with truth but with falsehoods.
{"title":"Universalising Sociology: Lessons From Radhakamal Mukerjee","authors":"S. Munshi","doi":"10.1177/00380229231172859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231172859","url":null,"abstract":"Even though Radhakamal Mukerjee is recognised as a founding father of sociology in India, he has remained a neglected figure in his own country. This lecture attempts to make his major writings more accessible. They are seen in the context of his life as he lived it, with an emphasis on some formative influences, biographical and societal, of his early life. This leads to an argument about his writings that highlights his overriding concern with universalising sociology by overcoming its narrowness so that it may contribute to the welfare of humanity. It is further argued that he is relevant to us at present in the face of the challenges of environmental degradation, the persisting pandemic, war, and our tendency to face these challenges not with truth but with falsehoods.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"262 - 281"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47898945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book review: Bidyut Mohanty, A Hunting Tragedy: Gender, Caste and Class in the 1866 Famine of Orissa","authors":"Raj Kumar","doi":"10.1177/00380229231172148","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231172148","url":null,"abstract":"Bidyut Mohanty, A Hunting Tragedy: Gender, Caste and Class in the 1866 Famine of Orissa (Manohar, 2022), 421 pp., ₹2095 (Hardback).","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"349 - 352"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42422956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-01DOI: 10.1177/00490857221151007
R. Mohanty
J. Daniel Elam, Impossible and Necessary: Anticolonialism, Reading, and Critique (Hyderabad, Orient Black Swan, 2021), 212 pp., ₹895.00 (Hardback). ISBN: 978-8-1949-2583-5.
{"title":"Book review: J. Daniel Elam, Impossible and Necessary: Anticolonialism, Reading, and Critique","authors":"R. Mohanty","doi":"10.1177/00490857221151007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00490857221151007","url":null,"abstract":"J. Daniel Elam, Impossible and Necessary: Anticolonialism, Reading, and Critique (Hyderabad, Orient Black Swan, 2021), 212 pp., ₹895.00 (Hardback). ISBN: 978-8-1949-2583-5.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"228 - 232"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45321856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-14DOI: 10.1177/00380229231155003
Dipankar Gupta
The most startling feature of Modernization of Indian Tradition is that it was so ahead of its times when it appeared in 1973 that most of us missed its full import. In those years there was, in the main, a simplistic understanding of modernisation as its markers were primarily technological achievements and western lifestyles, even affectations. In this book, Professor Yogendra Singh broke away from such formulaic renditions and instead proposed a social and relational view of modernisation where the principal emphasis was on how people interacted with one another and not on prowess facility with superior technical facilities or exterior presentation. Today we can appreciate the relevance of this approach for the drawbacks of correlating modernisation with things has proved to be inadequate, when not misleading, as it gives a skewed appreciation of the subject. Consequently, Enlightenment too gets a fresh coating for it now largely centres around the conditions of knowledge generation, which includes interpersonal relationships, and not on finished products of science. A person may, therefore, be very knowledgeable yet may remain quite un-modern when interacting with others.
{"title":"The New in the Old: Celebrating Fifty Years of Modernization of Indian Tradition","authors":"Dipankar Gupta","doi":"10.1177/00380229231155003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231155003","url":null,"abstract":"The most startling feature of Modernization of Indian Tradition is that it was so ahead of its times when it appeared in 1973 that most of us missed its full import. In those years there was, in the main, a simplistic understanding of modernisation as its markers were primarily technological achievements and western lifestyles, even affectations. In this book, Professor Yogendra Singh broke away from such formulaic renditions and instead proposed a social and relational view of modernisation where the principal emphasis was on how people interacted with one another and not on prowess facility with superior technical facilities or exterior presentation. Today we can appreciate the relevance of this approach for the drawbacks of correlating modernisation with things has proved to be inadequate, when not misleading, as it gives a skewed appreciation of the subject. Consequently, Enlightenment too gets a fresh coating for it now largely centres around the conditions of knowledge generation, which includes interpersonal relationships, and not on finished products of science. A person may, therefore, be very knowledgeable yet may remain quite un-modern when interacting with others.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"150 - 161"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44454970","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-24DOI: 10.1177/00380229221151082
Brijesh Chandra Tripathi
This article invites the reader to reflect on the practice and teaching of sociology through reflexivity in India in a new emerging space of liberal arts in private universities. These spaces can be considered as the fringe of sociology teaching. I argue that students in private universities grapple with a ‘crisis of relatedness’ regarding sociological discourse, and the debates they study leave them with different questions. I suggest that the understanding of social facts and issues is different and distant from those studying in public universities. The different lived experiences produce different sociological imaginations with the engagement of the same sociological texts. Teaching sociology in liberal arts spaces could mark the emergence of a generation of sociologists in India who have their training rooted in private universities. This new location of sociology students asks us to revisit the ongoing debate of skill-based sociology versus critical sociology that generates new questions for reflexivity and social location of both practitioner and student of sociology.
{"title":"Confronting Reflexivity: Sociological Trajectories of Teaching Sociology in Liberal Arts Spaces","authors":"Brijesh Chandra Tripathi","doi":"10.1177/00380229221151082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229221151082","url":null,"abstract":"This article invites the reader to reflect on the practice and teaching of sociology through reflexivity in India in a new emerging space of liberal arts in private universities. These spaces can be considered as the fringe of sociology teaching. I argue that students in private universities grapple with a ‘crisis of relatedness’ regarding sociological discourse, and the debates they study leave them with different questions. I suggest that the understanding of social facts and issues is different and distant from those studying in public universities. The different lived experiences produce different sociological imaginations with the engagement of the same sociological texts. Teaching sociology in liberal arts spaces could mark the emergence of a generation of sociologists in India who have their training rooted in private universities. This new location of sociology students asks us to revisit the ongoing debate of skill-based sociology versus critical sociology that generates new questions for reflexivity and social location of both practitioner and student of sociology.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"192 - 208"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48293507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-24DOI: 10.1177/00380229231153516
T. Oommen
Evolving a clear conception of Indian society is the primary task of Indian sociologists. This can be achieved by avoiding the conflation of polity and society. Several components of Indian society remain excluded or inadequately analysed. These are Adivasis, Dalits, Dravidians, religious minorities, women, etc. The differentiation between sociology and social/cultural anthropology, an extension of the Euro-American practice, inadequate internalisation of professional values by a section of Indian sociologists, the excessive academic significance attributed to a handful of sociologists, the persistence of the traditional guru–shishya relationships, reluctance on the part of some ‘eminent’ sociologists to accept professional responsibilities, reluctance to undertake analysis of new areas of research and employ new techniques of data collection, resistance to accept criticisms of the ‘nation,’ etc., are some of the major foibles which prevent sociology from flourishing in India.
{"title":"On the Foibles of Indian Sociology: Some Suggestions Towards Their Rectification","authors":"T. Oommen","doi":"10.1177/00380229231153516","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229231153516","url":null,"abstract":"Evolving a clear conception of Indian society is the primary task of Indian sociologists. This can be achieved by avoiding the conflation of polity and society. Several components of Indian society remain excluded or inadequately analysed. These are Adivasis, Dalits, Dravidians, religious minorities, women, etc. The differentiation between sociology and social/cultural anthropology, an extension of the Euro-American practice, inadequate internalisation of professional values by a section of Indian sociologists, the excessive academic significance attributed to a handful of sociologists, the persistence of the traditional guru–shishya relationships, reluctance on the part of some ‘eminent’ sociologists to accept professional responsibilities, reluctance to undertake analysis of new areas of research and employ new techniques of data collection, resistance to accept criticisms of the ‘nation,’ etc., are some of the major foibles which prevent sociology from flourishing in India.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"133 - 149"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46347858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.1177/00380229221151076
Astha Mishra, Aparna Rayaprol
In this article, we critically examine honour as a daily cultural code which is pivotal in organising gender relations, and go beyond culture-centric and Eurocentric conceptions of honour. By looking at everyday honour practices of Jat and Muslim women, in Muzaffarnagar, western Uttar Pradesh, we argue against the dominant understanding of honour as a product of religious mannerism and a culturally specific trait. Rather by looking at two religiously different, but agriculturally intertwined communities, we argue that both the communities have an analogous underpinning of honour which is embedded in agrarian ecology. Through empirical evidence, we argue that honour is a regional ethos, embedded and organised around the resource of agrarian land. As anxieties around agriculture and the agrarian way of life are increasing because of agrarian transformation, we see a resurgence of honour in the region. We focus the analytical lens around honour as a negotiated process and argue that women of both communities, in the region are ‘doing’ honour to bargain with patriarchy and negotiate for their upward mobility.
{"title":"Negotiating Honour by Jat and Muslim Women in Muzaffarnagar, Western Uttar Pradesh","authors":"Astha Mishra, Aparna Rayaprol","doi":"10.1177/00380229221151076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229221151076","url":null,"abstract":"In this article, we critically examine honour as a daily cultural code which is pivotal in organising gender relations, and go beyond culture-centric and Eurocentric conceptions of honour. By looking at everyday honour practices of Jat and Muslim women, in Muzaffarnagar, western Uttar Pradesh, we argue against the dominant understanding of honour as a product of religious mannerism and a culturally specific trait. Rather by looking at two religiously different, but agriculturally intertwined communities, we argue that both the communities have an analogous underpinning of honour which is embedded in agrarian ecology. Through empirical evidence, we argue that honour is a regional ethos, embedded and organised around the resource of agrarian land. As anxieties around agriculture and the agrarian way of life are increasing because of agrarian transformation, we see a resurgence of honour in the region. We focus the analytical lens around honour as a negotiated process and argue that women of both communities, in the region are ‘doing’ honour to bargain with patriarchy and negotiate for their upward mobility.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"162 - 178"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46741833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.1177/00380229221151085
Rituparna Patgiri
Interrogating the familiar is seen as a benchmark of good sociological research. As teachers of Sociology, we have to teach courses that question and critique the familiar regularly. It is a mammoth task. The enormity of the job is further increased by the fact that the teacher is part of the same social institutions as the students. As such, how does a teacher deal with their own assumptions while teaching? How does one teach young students to question and challenge the familiar that all of us are a part of? How does one teach the self which is a part of the familiar? I try to address some of these questions in this piece drawing from my own teaching experience. It has been my experience that the challenges of teaching the familiar and the self are augmented by the online mode. With the boundaries between the home and the university getting blurred in the online mode, the difficulties in defamiliarizing are even stronger. This challenges the core itself of Sociology. Apart from limiting the interaction between students and the teacher, there is also less scope for peer-based learning in the online classroom. Thus, there is a need to re-think the nature of the online classroom and the teacher that can help Sociology in continuing to question the familiar.
{"title":"The Familiar and the Self: Reflections from Teaching Sociology Online in India","authors":"Rituparna Patgiri","doi":"10.1177/00380229221151085","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229221151085","url":null,"abstract":"Interrogating the familiar is seen as a benchmark of good sociological research. As teachers of Sociology, we have to teach courses that question and critique the familiar regularly. It is a mammoth task. The enormity of the job is further increased by the fact that the teacher is part of the same social institutions as the students. As such, how does a teacher deal with their own assumptions while teaching? How does one teach young students to question and challenge the familiar that all of us are a part of? How does one teach the self which is a part of the familiar? I try to address some of these questions in this piece drawing from my own teaching experience. It has been my experience that the challenges of teaching the familiar and the self are augmented by the online mode. With the boundaries between the home and the university getting blurred in the online mode, the difficulties in defamiliarizing are even stronger. This challenges the core itself of Sociology. Apart from limiting the interaction between students and the teacher, there is also less scope for peer-based learning in the online classroom. Thus, there is a need to re-think the nature of the online classroom and the teacher that can help Sociology in continuing to question the familiar.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"209 - 223"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42260705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-12DOI: 10.1177/00380229221151081
P. Trivedi
The article interrogates the claim that capitalism would replace caste and liberate Dalits. People at the bottom rung of the caste hierarchy are exhorted to support neoliberal capitalism, a crusader against caste. This claim is based on the premise that capitalism abolishes all pre-existing social relations. Dealing with this argument at both empirical and theoretical levels, the article argues that this unilinear understanding of capital’s negotiation with other relationships is ahistorical. Capital does not necessarily abolish non-capitalist social relations but modifies and appropriates them for expansion. Relying on several studies from India, the article points out that interactions between capital and caste have been intriguing, with both entities being altered in the process.
{"title":"Intriguing Capital– Identity Relationship Dalits and Caste in India","authors":"P. Trivedi","doi":"10.1177/00380229221151081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00380229221151081","url":null,"abstract":"The article interrogates the claim that capitalism would replace caste and liberate Dalits. People at the bottom rung of the caste hierarchy are exhorted to support neoliberal capitalism, a crusader against caste. This claim is based on the premise that capitalism abolishes all pre-existing social relations. Dealing with this argument at both empirical and theoretical levels, the article argues that this unilinear understanding of capital’s negotiation with other relationships is ahistorical. Capital does not necessarily abolish non-capitalist social relations but modifies and appropriates them for expansion. Relying on several studies from India, the article points out that interactions between capital and caste have been intriguing, with both entities being altered in the process.","PeriodicalId":39369,"journal":{"name":"The Sociological Bulletin","volume":"72 1","pages":"179 - 191"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45282978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}