Seminar and Events

UGC SPECIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME (UGC - SAP) 

The Department has been granted assistance at the level of DRS I (Department Research Support 1^st Term) under the Special Assistance Programme (SAP) of the UGC to undertake research programmes and publications in thrust areas. The faculty members through their specializations cumulatively bring to bear their expertise on a broad range of themes and topics on the teaching and research programmes of the Department. For the five year period 2004 - 2009, the two thrust areas for the Department identified under SAP were: a) Marginalised Groups and Communities and b) Sociology of Environment.  

Continuing the support for research and innovation at the Department UGC gave approval for the second phase of SAP (SAP II) for a period of five years from 2009 - 2014. The thrust areas identified for this phase are: Marginalised Groups and Communities 

1. Development of Sociology in India - Contribution of the University, Department of Sociology, Mumbai
2. Impact of Globalization on

(a)   Culture and Identity

(b)   India and its Diaspora

(c)    Labour in the Informal Sector 

Prof. P.G. Jogdand acted as Co-ordinator of SAP for Phase I (2004 - 2009) and Phase II (2009 - 2014). The Department is already planning ahead for applying for the next stage of SAP (SAP III). The thrust areas identified at the meeting of the Faculty with experts from UGC, Prof. ArvindAgrawal and Prof. HariBabu are the following:   

1. Sociology of Marginalized Groups and Communities
2. Evolution of Sociology in India and New Challenges
3. Globalization and Social Processes in India:

a) Environment and Development

b) Cities, Urbanization, Migration and the Informal Sector

c) Gender, Culture and Identity

d) India and its Diaspora

e) Labour in the Informal Sector 

NATIONAL SEMINARS 

Department has been able to bring together academics, scholars and activists for exchange of ideas by way of National and International Seminars on topical issues and debates in the Social Sciences. From the year 2004, many of these seminars were organised under UGC-SAP.  

The Golden Jubilee of the Department was celebrated in 1969 with an international seminar on ‘Modernization of Underdeveloped Societies’, a much talked about issue at that time. Scholars such as Paul Lazarsfeld, Robert Merton, David Mandelbaum, among others presented papers at the conference. The proceedings of the conference were later edited into two landmark volumes.  

As part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the Department, an international seminar, ‘Cultural Pluralism, Ethnicity and Nation-Building in South Asia’, was organised in 1995. Renowned scholars S.C. Dube, M.N. Srinivas, Y.B. Damle, Bhikkhu Parekh, Jan Breman, Theodore Wright Jr. and Gerald Berreman were among the participants. A volume based on the papers presented at the seminar was later published.  

Some of the other significant seminars and conferences organised by the Department are detailed below:

• Seminar in honour of Prof. A.R. Momin, ‘Celebrating Syncretism’, 2005.
• Seminar on ‘Reservation or Affirmative Policy in the Private Sector: Issues and Concerns’, 2005
• Workshop on ‘Migration, Marginalization, Ghettoization and Identity Crisis: Theoretical Perspectives and Practical Insights’, (In collaboration with University of Bonn), 2005
• National Seminar on ‘Tribals, Forests and Livelihood Issues’, March 2006
• Western Region Workshop ‘Archiving Women’s Lives: Perspectives and Techniques’, in collaboration with Indian Association of Women’s Studies, 19^th and 20^th January, 2007.
• National Seminar on ‘Marginalization, the Public Sphere and the State: Issues of Market and Citizenship’, 22^nd and 23^rd March, 2007
• National Seminar ‘Interrogating and Reorienting Sociology: Critical Perspectives from the Margins’, 21^st and 22^nd February, 2008
• A two day National Seminar on theme “Informal Sector in India: Marginalised Communities” on 26^th and 27^th February, 2009
• Interdisciplinary International Conference, ‘Revisiting Linkages and Exchanges between India and Germany: Shifting Images and Discourses’, jointly organised with the University of Bonn, 11^th to 13^th March, 2009
• Two day National Seminar on theme ‘Modernity, Identity and Resistance in South Asia: Negotiating Subjectivity amidst changing solidarities’, 18^th, 19^th and 20^th March, 2010
• Two day National Seminar on theme “Understanding Marginalized Groups in India. Exploring Perspectives, Approaches & Methodologies” on 19^th& 20^th January, 2011 under UGC-SAP (Phase II).
• Two-day Pre-Conference Seminar in the run up to the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the Indian Sociological Society, titled “Sociology in India and the Bombay School: Retrospect and Prospects”, 23^rd and 24^th September 2011
• Two day National Seminar on ‘Sociology of Dalit Literature’, under UGC - SAP Programme on 17^th and 18^th February, 2012
• Two day National Seminar on ‘Development, Identity and Politics: Issues of Development and identities of the Marginalised in Contemporary India’, under UGC - SAP Programme on 1^st and 2^nd March, 2013.

ENDOWMENT LECTURES 

A.R DESAI MEMORIAL LECTURE SERIES 

A.R. Desai memorial lecture is a lecture series held annually by the Department of Sociology in honour of Prof. A.R. Desai. The details of the recent A.R. Desai Memorial Lectures are given below.

G.S. GHURYE BOOK AWARD 

The University of Mumbai instituted the Prof. G.S. Ghurye Award in the year 1976 in the name of Prof. GovindSadashivGhurye, pioneering Sociologist as well as illustrious Head of the Department. The award, consisting of a cash prize and a citation, is given to an Indian author for a book or monograph in Sociology and Anthropology in the English language. The selection is done by the award committee from among the monographs published in India and abroad. The previous recipients of this award include, M.N. Srinivas (The Remembered Village), Veena Das (Structure and Cognition: Aspects of Hindu Caste and Ritual), M.S.A Rao (Social Movements and Social Transformation: A Study of Two Backward Caste Movements in India), Ratna Naidu (The Communal Edge to Plural Societies: India and Malaysia), T.K. Oommen (From Mobilization to Institutionalization: The Dynamics of Agrarian Movement in 20^th Century Kerala), M.S. Gore (The Social Context of an Ideology: Ambedkar’s Social and Political Thought), K.S. Singh (The Scheduled Tribes) and SatishSaberwal (Spirals of Contention: Why India was Partitioned in 1947).  

G.S. GHURYE MEMORIAL LECTURE 

• First Prof. G. S. Ghurye Memorial Lecture on G. S. Ghurye and the Politics of Sociological Knowledge delivered by Nicholas Dirks, Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and History, Columbia University, on Friday, 15^th January 2010.

• Second Prof. G. S. Ghurye Memorial Lecture on Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the Nation: Situating G.S. Ghurye by T. K. Oommen, Professor Emeritus, Centre for the study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi on Thursday, 23^rd December 2010.

3^rd Professor G. S. Ghurye Memorial Lecture on Caste Today: What Some Sociologists Don’t Know by Professor Gail Omvedt on Monday, 25^th February, 2013.

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