Aniruddha Naik, PhD Research Scholar in the Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) working under Prof. Nagaraju Gundemeda, received the Japan Sociological Society (JSS) Travel Award for the 100th year of celebrating sociology in Japan at the Annual Conference of Japan Sociological Society held between Nov 9-10, 2024, at Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan.
Anirudha was among the six early research scholars selected by the Japanese sociological society outside Japan. As part of the JSS, he received 100,000 yen, two days’ accommodation, and one year of membership in the Japan Sociological Society.
He presented his paper on “Beyond Eurocentrism: Decentering Global Sociology through the Lens of India” on the theme of the conference Decentering Global Sociology. By engaging with Western and indigenous Indian scholarship, he argues that mainstream sociologists have failed to acknowledge the scholarship from the global south. Eurocentric is celebrated as an authentic view. Therefore, he argues that Indian concepts, theories, and sociological methods need to be included to understand Indian social and cultural realities better. At the same time, the subaltern scholarship from the margin within the margin needs to be part of the sociology teaching and learning to make it more authentic and representative. Scholars from South Africa, UK, China, and Japan made the conference engaging and fruitful. The scholars discussed the approach to decolonising sociology at the global level. He was the only person from India to participate in the conference. His work was appreciated by the scholars there.
Aniruddha would like to thank the Japanese Sociological Society for the travel and accommodation and UoH for academic support.