Indigeneity and Universality in Social Science: A South Asian Response

Description

Emerging out of the Renaissance and the industrial revolution, the set of disciplines that got institutionalised as the social sciences were fashioned in Europe. However, what were areas of scholarly inquiry responding to specifically Western problems and concerns, laid claim to universality in course of time and were uncritically accepted as being so until they began to be challenged by non-Western thinkers in the second half of the twentieth century. Bringing together 18 essays by distinguished social scientists, this volume is a major contribution to the debate on the indigenisation of the social sciences. It addresses two central questions from a primarily Asian perspective: - Are the social sciences that originated in the West, and are essentially indigenous to it, universal for the rest? - Can the universal explain the particular, unless the universals in the particulars of different cultural contexts contribute to the construction of the universal? Some of the issues explored in this twin framework are: - The de-parochialisation of Western social science. - The concept of the ‘captive mind’, which fails to fathom its captivity. - The limitations of Western social sciences on crucial issues such as modernisation, economic liberalisation and structural adjustment. - The validity and potential of indigenous models of development as demonstrated by Bhutan’s concept of Gross National Happiness. - Oral traditions and their potential for universal knowledge. Dedication Contents List of Tables Prefacr Introduction: Indigeneity and Universality in Social Science • Partha Nath Mukherji 1. Social Science and the Quest for a Just Society • Immanuel Wallerstein 2. The Captive Mind and Creative Development • Syed Hussein Alatas 3. The Call for Indigenisation • Yogesh Atal 4. Economic Theory and Development Practice: Stiglitz’s Critique and the Sri Lankan Experience • Saman Kelegama and Chris Rodrigo 5. Pseudo-modernisation and the Formation of Youth Identities in Sri Lanka • S. T. Hettige 6. Poverty in a Rural Economy: Opportunities and Threats—A Case Study of Nepal • Bishwambher Pyakuryal 7. Inquiring Minds and Inquiry Frames • Ajeet N. Mathur 8. NGO Failure and the Need to Bring Back the State • S. Akbar Zaidi 9. Values and Development: Gross National Happiness • Lyonpo Jigmi Y. Thinley 10. Gross National Happiness: Bhutan’s Vision of Development and its Challenges • Stefan Priesner 11. Glimpses of Social Structure in Ancient India: Kautilya’s Relevance for Sociology in South Asia • Rangalal Sen 12. Institution Building in South Asia: Dilemmas and Experiences • T.K. Oommen 13. Traditions and Actors: ‘Communities’ Reconfigured in Nineteenth-century India • Sadsh Saberwal 14. Globalisation, Intellectual Property Rights and Indigenous Response • Indra Nath Mukherji 15. Consultative Managerial Leadership Style in India: A Viable Alternative • Sadsh Kumar Kalra 16. The Indigenous and the Modern: Education in South Asia • Jacob Aikara 17. Urban Sociology of South Asia: The Problem of Formulating the Indigenous • Chandan Sengupta About the Editors and Contributors Index