The Plural Histories of Anthropology and Sociology in India

Disciplinary Boundaries, Continuities and Ruptures in Their Institutionalization (1910-1970)

Abstract

In this article, I address the history of sociology and anthropology in India, from their institutionalization in the 1910s to recent years, focusing on the theoretical and political clashes peculiar to the formation of these disciplines in India. First, I demonstrate that for reasons intrinsic to the Indian colonial context, social anthropology is subsumed under sociology. Next, I historically restore the hegemony of G. S. Ghurye and the University of Bombay in defining the research and teaching of the discipline in the country. I then explore the emergence of the University of Delhi with M.N. Srinivas as a symbol of a new institutional and theoretical hegemony, invested in a structural-functionalist analysis engaged with newly independent India. In counterpoint to narratives about Srinivas as a towering Indian sociologist, I discuss alternative currents of thought, notably the Lucknow School. I conclude with debates that begin in the 1970s in the context of regionalization of the university and diversification of the public in intersectional terms, pointing to contemporary challenges that have reshaped the discipline.