INDIGENIZATION OF INDIAN SOCIOLOGY

 

INDIGENIZATION OF INDIAN SOCIOLOGY

 

Indigenization is the act of making something more native, transformation of some service, idea etc to suit a local culture, especially through the use of more indigenous people in different spheres.  

The essence of sociology and its uniqueness as a social science lies not in its subject matter but in its theoretical and methodological orientation. In the west the theoretical and methodological orientations of sociology have undergone dialectical changes both through accretion and revision. These changes can be viewed and interpreted as sustained response to challenges thrown up by the changing socio-economic and political conditions there. These changes in Western sociology have encouraged the proliferation of several paradigms.

In India sociology, as it is known and practiced today, has not been an indigenous discipline. It came into the country to serve the missionary and administrative interest of the colonial rulers. As such its establishment and growth in country has had a strong Western imprint. Given the intellectual neo-colonial attitudes and cultural imperialism of the West this imprint has continued even after independence.

Scholars like Louis Dumont and Pocock raised the debate on ‘SOCIOLOGY FOR INDIA’ in the first series of Contribution to Indian Sociology. The debate has continued since in the new series. An integral part of these debates has been the issue of indigenization of concepts and methods of sociology in India.

On one side of the debate started with the suggestion of Dumont and Pocock that “in principal a sociology of India lies at the point of confluence of Sociology and indology”. The proponents of an indological approach in sociology emphasize that the contextual specificity of Indian social realities could be grasped better form the scriptural writings.

T.K. Oommen pleads that if sociology is to be relevant for India as a discipline it should endorse and its practitioners should internalize the value package contained in Indian constitution that is Socialism, Secularism and Democracy rather than hierarchy, holism, pluralism and so forth pointed out by the indologists.

Other side of the debate is identified with a paradigm of Indian sociology free from academic colonization that is borrowed packages of concepts and methods from other cultures particularly from the West.

They had opinion that Western methods and concepts do not have relevance for the Indian social, historical and cultural situations.

Thus on the intellectual front the key crisis in Sociology in India is related to indigenization.

The Native scholars has begun raising questions regarding the applicability and appropriateness of theories and methodologies imported from abroad and has started almost a campaign for their replacement by native categories of thought and indigenous techniques and methods of research.

Yogesh Atal said that the call for indigenization of social sciences was given in the post-colonial era. He regards this call as an invitation to re-examine the structure of social sciences and to evolve suitable strategies to promote indigenization. Here culture became the key issue as different societies have different cultures.

The demand for what Atal feels, de-parochialization of Western social sciences is the key emphasis of the demand of indigenization. Indigenization here implies critical re-examination of Western social science methods and theories in the context of developing societies. Because these theories and methods have evolved through a particular content their unquestioned applicability in the new context could be misleading. According to Atal systematic survey and critical review of the social science literature generated in developing countries may provide some help in this regard.  

According to Yogesh Atal some of the positive aspects of indigenization being emphasized by its exponents are:

1                    Indigenization is a plea for self awareness and rejection of a borrowed consciousness. It emphasized the need for an inside view. Its proponents wish to promote thoughtful analysis of their own societies to replace the existing trend of knowing these via the West.

2                    Draws attention to historical and cultural specificities and argues for the redefinition, focus with a view of developing dynamic perspectives on national issues.

3                    Advocates the desirability for alternative perspectives on human societies with a view to making the social sciences less parochial and enriching them.

4                    Indigenization should not lead to narrow parochialism or to the fragmentation of a single discipline into several insulated systems of thought based on geographical boundaries.

5                    Opposed false universalism as well as false nationalism.

Attempts for Indigenization

According to Atal indigenization has been pursued along with four fronts:

v  Teaching in the national language and use of local materials for study and research

v  Research by insiders

v  Determination of research priorities

v  Theoretical and methodological orientation

It is evident that a great deal of awareness exists among the Indian sociologists about the growth of sociology as a discipline. They have taken up self introspection by analyzing the origin of the discipline and the level of its growth. The influences of the Western sociology (both American and British) and Marxian have been taken up with a view to understand the constraints and challenges shown by the discipline.

Sociology in India particularly in the 19th century and first half of the 20th century was not simply an imitation of Western theories, concepts and methods of research. It was contemporaneous sociology in India.  

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