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Sociology of South Asia: In Waiting for the Revolution

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Sociology of South Asia

Abstract

This introduction traces the genealogy of current sociology of South Asia. We examine classical sociology’s approach to the subcontinent as a contrast case to European modernity, and colonial and postcolonial sociological scholarship within the subcontinent under developmental and liberalized state regimes. We then map how global political shifts, including the strategic interests of the U.S. government in funding the study of South Asia in the post-war, Cold War, and post-9/11 periods, set up particular intellectual trajectories that diverged from both classical sociology and the approaches to the study of society within the subcontinent. In tracing this genealogy, we map out a trajectory for decolonizing and deparochializing sociology from and through the study of South Asia.

We would like to thank Dwaipayan Banerjee and Sneha Annavarapu for their incisive comments and feedback on this introductory chapter, and Sanchita Dasgupta for her thorough and insightful background research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Because of the unique conditions of research and study in Afghanistan, and the limited work in sociology in and on Bhutan and the Maldives, we are unable to address these countries in this volume.

  2. 2.

    Studies by scholars such as Aihwa Ong (1987), Maria Mies (1982), Caitrin Lynch (2007), Leela Fernandes (1997), and Leslie Salzinger (2003) are among those who developed this perspective.

  3. 3.

    Scholars like Chandra Talpade Mohanty (1988, 2003), Inderpal Grewal (1996), Richa Nagar (Collective and Nagar 2006), Naila Kabeer (2000), Raka Ray (1999), Saba Mahmood (2004), M. Jacqui Alexander (2005), Millie Thayer (2009), Paola Bacchetta (1999), and Jyoti Puri (2002, 2016) exemplify this tradition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA

    Gowri Vijayakumar

  2. Department of Sociology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA

    Smitha Radhakrishnan

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  1. Gowri Vijayakumar
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  1. Department of Sociology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA

    Smitha Radhakrishnan

  2. Department of Sociology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, USA

    Gowri Vijayakumar

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Vijayakumar, G., Radhakrishnan, S. (2022). Sociology of South Asia: In Waiting for the Revolution. In: Radhakrishnan, S., Vijayakumar, G. (eds) Sociology of South Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97030-7_1

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