Sociologist and scholar Gail Omvedt said on Thursday that the world was going through a period of turmoil, with democracies being trampled by the State in various countries.
She was speaking after receiving the lifetime achievement award presented on the first day of the 44th All-India Sociological Conference at St. Philomena’s College here.
Prof. Omvedt said sociologists should find out the reason for this condition. “Sociologists should adopt a multi-disciplinary approach based on the relationship between humans and nature, women’s liberation, non-class relations such as caste, race and gender, along with class and culture. The contribution of Mahatma Phule, B.R. Ambedkar, and Periyar should be integrated into the theoretical discourse,” she added. Prof. M.N. Karna was also felicitated and presented with a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to sociology.
Earlier in the day, Margaret Abraham, professor of sociology, Hofstra University, New York, in her inaugural address, stressed the importance of providing perspectives from the margins in knowledge production and sociological engagements. She said there was a critical need for sociologists to examine the issues of inequality and injustice.
The theme of the three-day conference is ‘Reconstructing Sociological Discourse in India: Perspectives from the Margins’. According to the organisers, the conference will address questions such as how often the sociological discourse in India has engaged in bringing to the “centre” perspectives of those who live on the margins. The scholars will also deliberate upon the popular concepts of marginality, the kind of identities that dominate the discourse, and whether there can be a universally accepted notion of marginality in Indian society.
On Friday, the Prof. M.N. Srinivas Memorial Lecture on Sociological Imagination and Literary Sensitivity will be delivered by N. Jayaram, visiting professor, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru, at 11.20 a.m.
