Kapil Raj (Research Professor of History of science at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris and currently visiting professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Shiv Nadar University) will present his research entitled ‘Go-Betweens in the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Science Studies’ at the Sociological Research Colloquium.
When: Friday, 29th March 2019 at 3:00 p.m.
Where: Seminar Room (First Floor), Department of Sociology, University of Delhi
Convenor: Shashi Bhushan Singh
Abstract
This talk traces the variety of approaches on the subject adopted by cultural and social historians, and anthropologists, drawn from the theoretical reflections of classical sociologists, especially Georg Simmel. It then tackles the subject of go-betweens in the world of knowledge and science through the way they have been problematized in recent work in the history of science and the resulting change in the narrative from one of an agonistic “clash of cultures” to that of actively constructed connections. It concludes with the presentation of a concrete historical example from the late seventeenth century to show the decisive role of intermediation in the construction of knowledge in intercultural contexts, leading to some reflections on the continuing importance of go-betweens in understanding constructive intercultural and interdisciplinary encounters in our present-day world.
Other Research Colloquiums
- ‘Anti-Semitism, the Contemporary Left and the Temptation of the Conspiracy Fantasy’ on Friday, 20th September, 2019
- Myths, and the Visual Imagination: The ‘Duplicitous Maiden’ as a Narrative Theme in Gond Art by Prof. Roma Chatterji on 13th September, 2019 (Research Colloquium)
- ‘Disciples of the Word’ by Savyasaachi
- ‘Imagery as Discourse: Locating Developmentalism in Indian Currency and Coinage and its Contestations’ by Amit Prakash
- ‘Go-Betweens in the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Science Studies’ by Kapil Raj