The Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH) in collaboration with the Golden Jubilee Distinguished Lecture Series, School of Social Sciences and support from the Institution of Eminence (IoE), commenced the three-day International Conference, ‘Celebrating 100 Years of Sociology in India’ on April 1, 2024.
The inaugural session saw addresses from Special Guests, including the Vice-chancellor, Prof B.J. Rao, the Dean of Social Sciences, Jyotirmaya Sharma, and the Head of the Department, Prof G. Nagaraju, along with former Faculty Members and the President of the Indian Sociological Society, Prof Maitrayee Chaudhuri.
As Dr. Asima Jena, the convenor of the conference, reminded the audience, the conference was conceived with the idea of acknowledging and paying tributes to the pioneering works and stalwarts of the discipline in the country, and particularly, the Department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad, which was established in the year 1979.
The Keynote Address was delivered by Prof Satish Deshpande, who contextualized the trajectory of the discipline in India, even before the institutional establishment of its first department, delving into the question of how we practice academics through the lens of academic freedom. The Inaugural session of the conference also felicitated the eminent scholars of the department, both retired (Prof. Chandrasekhar Bhat, Prof. Vignesh Bhat, Prof. K. Laxminarayana, Prof. P. Venkata Rao, Prof. E. Haribabu and Prof Vinod K Jairath) and distinguished professors such as Prof. Satish Deshpande and Prof Surinder Jodhka who have worked here in the past.
The first day of the conference was held in the Zakir Hussain Lecture complex and the Social Sciences Conference Hall. The panels of the first day were titled Rural and Urban Processes and Exclusion, Science and Technology, Sociology of Dalits and ended with a two-part session on Sociology in India: Theory, Method and Practice.
The sessions on the second and third days of the conference will be held simultaneously in the CV Raman Auditorium and the Social Sciences Conference Hall.