Sociology and Beyond: The Limits of Loyalty

Abstract

Debates and discussions in an intellectual field help us to come to terms with our existing condition and work towards its needed transformation. Debates and discussions have been very much part of traditions of sociological reflections in India. In the 1950s there was a debate about the 'book view' and 'field view' of studying Indian society in which the works of M. N. Srinivas and Louis Dumont were discussed. A recent debate has arisen on the need for Indian social sciences to overcome their entrenched parochial fixations and be simultaneously interested in fieldwork at home and the world. The article begins with this and discusses the need for Indian social sciences overcome their parochial fixation and simultaneously work with India and the world. This calls for overcoming the limits of loyalty such as uncritical loyalty to nation-state and cultivate a relationship of gratitude to both one's country and the world.

Democratic Strivings, Social Sciences, and Public Debates: The Case of India

“…The enduring theme of the “Indianness” of history, sociology, and social anthropology finds varied expressions in attempts to delineate the specific history of the disciplines in terms of institutions and of anchoring concepts that can be retrieved from Indian texts (Madan ; Marriott ). Though less frequent, there is also an attempt to reverse the subject–object relation by turning the anthropological gaze back on the West, thus affirming a picture of equality and reciprocity in the relation between Indian anthropology and its Western counterparts (Arif ; Chatterji ; Giri ; Uberoi ).…”

First Articles in the New Section

“…The enduring theme of the "Indianness" of history, sociology, and social anthropology finds varied expressions in attempts to delineate the specific history of the disciplines in terms of institutions and of anchoring concepts that can be retrieved from Indian texts (Madan 1982;Marriott 1990). Though less frequent, there is also an attempt to reverse the subjectobject relation by turning the anthropological gaze back on the West, thus affirming a picture of equality and reciprocity in the relation between Indian anthropology and its Western counterparts (Arif 2004;Chatterji 1998;Giri 2009;Uberoi 1987).…”