Centre for the Study of Social Systems
School of Social Sciences
CSSS Colloquium
Vivek Kumar
(Professor and Chairperson, CSSS, JNU)
Will be presenting a paper on
Classical Theory and Beyond: Rationale for a Dalit Perspective
Date & Time: January 10, 2019 (Thursday), 11am
Venue:CSSS Committee Room (No: 13), SSS-II
Abstract: This paper tries to evolve a theoretical rationale for ‘Dalit Perspective’. For doing the same it draws its rationale from C. Wright Mills’s ‘sociological imagination’, Peter Berger & Thomas Luckmann’s notion of ‘Sociology of Knowledge’, P. Bourdieu’s idea of ‘cultural and social capital’ and Paulo Freire’s notion of ‘pedagogy of the oppressed’. The paper has operationalized these propositions in the study of Indian society. In this context it discusses the epistemology of the term Dalit and thereby, the ‘Dalit Perspective’ as well. The paper emphasizes how social structure is responsible for the development of a community and helps in shaping their construction of consciousness out which production of Knowledge takes place. Taking cognizance of the nature and history of social exclusion, emanating from the structural location of the Dalits, the perspective performs four very important functions. One, it analyses the existing book and field view about the Dalits; two, it records how other social scientists have observed the Dalits; three, it presents the Dalit view about the society as a whole and finally, it provides a framework to understand Dalit society as a separate entity from the mainstream society. Dalit perspective in this context tries to deconstruct the existing socio-cultural and political reality about the Dalit society and allows us to capture the internal dimensions of Dalit society as a whole. In this regard it helps us to understand the internal categories, institutions, and processes unfolding within the Dalit society.
Bio: Prof. Vivek Kumar is a Sociologist, a public intellectual and currently is the Chairperson of the Centre for the Study of Social System, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. As a recipient of Fulbright Teachers Fellowship he has taught (2012) in the Department of Sociology in Columbia University, New York, USA. He has been a visiting faculty in the Department of Asian and African Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. His areas of interest include methodology of social sciences, sociology of marginalized sections, dependent and independent Dalit political leadership, sociology of Indian diaspora, sociology of South Asia, social movements, globalization and social change.He has authored many books include “Caste and Democracy in India”, “India’s Roaring Revolution: Dalit Assertions and New Horizons”, “Dalit Leadership in India”, “Dynamics of Change and Continuity in the Era of Globalization: Voices from the Margins” and several research papers and articles. He also writes in newspapers and participates in debates on television channels regularly. Prof. Vivek Kumar is the Professor In-charge of Ambedkar Chair at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, JNU.
