Lecture Series

Vivek Dhareshwar
on
Decolonizing the Social Sciences: Problems and Prospects

This lecture will raise the question of why decolonising the social sciences has not figured as an explicit agenda in India. Although there have been nativisms and critiques of Eurocentrism, the lecture will try to show that they cannot be considered as articulating the agenda of decolonising the social sciences. Arguing how the programme of decolonising the social sciences is a necessary and urgent task for intellectuals from the south, the speaker will outline some of the serious theoretical issues that such a task needs to confront. 

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To listen or download lecture in audio format

Vivek Dhareshwar is currently Scholar-in-Residence at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore. Previously, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society, Bangalore, Dr Dhreshwar was also Director of the Institute between 2001 and 2004. From 1993 to 1997, he was Fellow in the Social Basis of Culture and Sociology at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. He has previously taught as Visiting Faculty in the Department of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University.

Dr Dhareshwarobtained a PhD from the History of Consciousness Program, University of California, Santa Cruz. His current research investigates the role of culture in learning different kinds of knowledge. He is currently working on two book projects, the first one is, A Philosophical Exploration of the Relationship between Norms and Experience and the other is on the idea of multiple sites of ethical learning in Gandhi. He has published widely in the areas of ethics, political theory, literary criticism, and the philosophy of culture. At Srishti, he heads the Bangalore Human Sciences Initiative (BHISI) which has set itself the objective of reinvigorating research in the humanities and the social sciences.

This lecture was organised in collaboration with Photo Kathmandu, the first international photography festival in Nepal, 3-9 November, 2015. www.photoktm.com