Description
As scholars we are eager to get beyond the bounds of knowledge generated in Western Europe and North America, yet we continue to teach classical theory by featuring (mostly white male) scholars from this region. Since the Euro-American perspectives are powerful, around the world, sociological theory focuses on the same theorists.
This book is an attempt to decolonise social theory: to rethink theory by focusing on theorists from other regions, chosen by scholars who live and work in countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. We feature the selections and presentations of sociologists from Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Poland, South Africa, Singapore, and Tunisia.
Rianka Roy, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Wake Forest University, USA; Anjana Narayan, Professor of Sociology, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, USA; Melanie Heath, Professor of Sociology, McMaster University, Canada; Bandana Purkayastha, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies, University of Connecticut, USA
How should we teach and learn theory in Sociology? Once it seemed enough to learn about a handful of founding fathers and modern masters, all men, all White, all from the old imperial centres. But the world is wider and deeper than that, and has changed profoundly. How should we teach and learn theory now? The editors and authors of Theory Reimagined have given us a rich gift: a collection packed with studies of social thought, and social thinkers, from around the post-colonial world. Here students and teachers will find issues ranging from migration to gender, decolonisation, land rights, environment, economic development, school education, political repression, and intellectuals themselves. Many of the details may be unfamiliar, but the writing is clear, and these chapters are worth re-reading. The editors have helpfully added teaching notes and a glossary. It’s a bold and practical contribution to the revolution in the social sciences that is under way now.
Raewyn Connell, Australian Feminist Sociologist and Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney
Knowledge for what? Knowledge for whom? To these two classical questions, Theory Reimagined invites us to add a new one: Whose voices should be accounted for? This powerful volume, curated by distinguished editors, assembles a remarkable collection of compelling perspectives on how to complement classical social theory with a wealth of theoretical knowledge production from the Global South. It explores how to practise sociology in the vernacular, challenging the ‘monocultures of the mind’ and advocating for a more inclusive and pluralistic approach to social theory.
Sari Hanafi, Former President, International Sociological Association
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contributors
Introduction
Chapter 1
Southeast Asian Social Theory at the turn of the 20th Century:
Jose Rizal, Ho Chi Minh, and Sukarno
GEORGE B RADICS
Chapter 2
Endogeneity and Matrifocality in African Gender Studies:
Implications for Gender Equity in Kenya
ROSEANNE NJIRU
Chapter 3
Theories of ‘Forced Migration’ from India: Ranabir Samaddar
RIANKA ROY
Chapter 4
Diasporic Migrants as Citizen Subjects
MARIAM SEEDAT-KHAN & JAYANATHAN GOVENDER
Chapter 5
Development through the Lense of Dessalegn
Rahmato’s Research: The Case of Ethiopia
SELAM ESAYAS NEGATU & EZANA AMDEWORK ATSBEHA
Chapter 6
Seeds of Change: South Asian Ecology and Vandana Shiva’s Legacy
SATADRU BHATTACHARYYA
Chapter 7
Critical Collaboration as a Tool to Mitigate Oppressive and
Colonial Relations in School Contexts
FERNANDA COELHO LIBERALI, MONICA LEMOS,
MARIANA REIS MENDES & FRANCISCO ESTEFOGO
Chapter 8
Marxist and Post-Marxist Sociology in East Central and Southeastern Europe
MARTA BUCHOLC & NAUM TRAJANOVSKI
Chapter 9
Social Change and Shifts in Sociology in Tunisia
MOUNIR SAIDANI
Appendix I
Teaching Notes
Appendix II
Glossary
Notes
