Department of Sociology

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://ir.nbu.ac.in/handle/123456789/3478

The present Department of Sociology was established as a combined Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology by the University of North Bengal in 1976. Professor Niren Ch. Choudhury, eminent anthropologist, was the first Professor and Head of the Department who provided the leadership in the formative years of the Department.Professor R.K.Bhadra and Dr.Namita Choudhury were associated with him since inception of this department and helped in the process of its development. The bifurcation between sociology and anthropology took place in 2001 and thus the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology was renamed Department of Sociology and a separate Department of Anthropology was established under the Science Faculty. From its beginning the Department of Sociology has been training students for three courses: M.A., M. Phil. and Ph.D. The Department has produced more than 30 Ph.Ds and more than one thousand Masters. Besides the two main programmes the Department invites visiting faculty, from the reputed national and international universities and the faculty of this department visit the universities abroad on visiting faculty programme and for attending seminars/conferences. The teachers of the Department encourage students to take part in academic discussions outside the class-room interaction and encourage them to present papers in seminars/conferences. In recognition of the good work done by the Department the University Grants’ Commission (UGC) has granted the Special Assistance Programme (DRS – 1) in 2007 which has facilitated undertaking a good number of research projects on issues relating to gender question and the problem of ethnicity in the North Bengal region. The Department has been organizing a national level seminar every year on the gender and ethnicity related issues, which constitute the focal theme of the SAP. As a part of the programme the Department publishes Occasional Papers and edited volumes based on the research articles that are produced under different SAP related programs.

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Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    (Re)Looking at “Dalit” Conceptualization
    (University of North Bengal, 2019-03) Ray, Antara
    In the post-colonial India, the ex-untouchables and the other marginalized castes of Indian social order has re-created their identity in the form of ‘Dalits’. This discourse of Dalits is not only present in the form of actionmovements but also in the academic discourse of literary movements. The present paper will, thereby, try to look into the conceptualization of ‘Dalit’ within the Dalit discourse and would try to locate the theoretical underpinnings. In this quest of unraveling the problematic of Dalit conceptualization, the paper will delve into the theoretical approaches of specifically Ambedkar and will compare it with the standpoint of Harijan discourse as propounded by Gandhi. The present paper will also try to look into the various Dalit literatures and the conceptualization of Dalit there in, to critically analyze it.
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    Foregrounding differences and diversity: dalit youth of India
    (University of North Bengal, 2015-03) Ray, Antara; Ganguly, Ramanuj
    This paper attempts to focus on the changing dalit youth culture in India tracing the socio-historical factors which facilitated the development of the contemporary youth identity among dalits. It focuses on the diverse kinds of motivations and ideologies which are now mostly continued by the youth of the contemporary society. The paper also tries to draw attention towards the fact that youth of India are taking prominent collective action guided and provoked by the changing social institutions (which are more politically active and mobile now) that are creating contradictions and new form of discriminations/exclusivist trends in the Indian society. The paper narrates how youth of contemporary India is getting involved in the new age caste-discriminations based on politics by using their cultural baggage. The rationale provided to the youth, either Dalit or non- Dalit is reasoned on the basis of cultural tools in order to gain a leading role in Indian political system. This paper examines this dichotomy, contradictions and the logic of Dalit politics and the involvement of youth.
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    Re-thinking Dalit Women in Post-colonial India
    (University of North Bengal, 2014-03) Ray, Antara
    Historically, women in general and of India in particular are persistently exploited, victimized and discriminated. Dalit women being dalit and women at the same time are located in a ‘place’ where the systemic as well as patriarchal forces, both from without and within, work to make their subjugation perpetual. The paper gives a social narrative of the saga of dalit women in Post-colonial India.