School of Social and Political Science

Description

What does it mean to practise critical social science in an increasingly neoliberal academy and polarized nation-state?

Abstract:

What does it mean to practise critical social science in an increasingly neoliberal academy and polarized nation-state? This lecture traces how Indian sociologists’ position has shifted with regard to their discipline, academic institutions, the nation, and the wider world since Independence. Today, they face challenges to the vision of democratizing the university in terms of institutional autonomy and public accountability. The Indian experience may well provide insights to colleagues in the North.

Speaker Bio

Amita Baviskar is a sociologist and Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology & Anthropology at Ashoka University, India. Previously, she was Professor at the Sociology Unit, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, India.[1] She received the 2005 Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contributions to Development Studies, the 2008 VKRV Rao Prize for Social Science Research and, in 2010, was awarded the Infosys Prize for Social Sciences – Sociology in recognition of her analysis of social and environmental movements in modern India.[2] Baviskar studies the cultural politics of environment and development in rural and urban India.

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