Centre for the Study of Social Systems
School of Social Sciences
CSSS Colloquium
Amit Kumar Sharma
(Associate Professor, CSSS, JNU)
Will be presenting a paper on
Cinema and Sociology in India
Date & Time:
February 27, 2020 (Thursday), 11am
Venue:
CSSS Committee Room (No: 13), SSS-II
Abstract: This paper is a humble excursus towards a comparative history of the institution of sociology in Indian universities and the evolution of cinema as a sacred institution in Indic civilization. The imperative of this presentation is to understand the structure, process and function of the two institutions both synchronically as well as diachronically. In any vibrant society, history is rewritten by each succeeding generation. The task of reinterpreting institutional history often takes the form of recognizing and developing a new perspective on already well-known events. This presentation outlines a new reading of the already well-known histories of sociology and cinema in India. In the process of this new reading, it tries to accommodate the unaccommodated facets of the institutional unfolding of sociology and cinema in the Indian state, market, civil society and military cantonment.
Bio: Dr. Amit Kumar Sharma is Associate Professor in CSSS/SSS/JNU since September 2002. He has been a student of sociology since 1979. His primary interest within the discipline has been in sociological theory, semiotics, semiology, political economy, cinema and culture. His major publications include: Symbols of Kinship Identity in a North Indian Village (2011); Religion and Culture in Indian Civilization (2011,Ed.); Bharatiya Sanskriti ka Swaroop (2006); Bhartiya Samajshastra ke Pramukh Sampradaya (2011); Hind Swaraj Ki Prasangikta (2005); The Structure of Indian Society (2003). His new book is in press, titled Bharat Me Cinema Evam Sanskriti: Ek Samajshastriya Dristi (April 2020, New Delhi: Shaolin Cinevision).