Panelists:

• Arundhati Virmani (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales-EHESS),
• Jean Boutier (Director of Studies at École des hautes études en sciences sociales)
• Manohar Kumar (Assistant Professor, IIIT Delhi)
• Nandini Sundar (Professor of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, DU)
• Denys Leighton (Professor and Dean, Jindal School of Languages and Literature, JGU)
• Mridula Mukherjee (Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU)

Abstract:
This roundtable will discuss the role of social scientists in the public sphere, drawing on the recently published book Social Scientists in the Civic Space. The book explores the stakes for the social sciences around four central problems: the challenges of context; modes of intervention; involvement; and the ethical dilemmas for the scholar in a democratic space. The first, challenges of the context, examines the variety of situations confronted by scholars since the beginning of the 20th century. These include their interventions in key judicial affairs, the impact of technological developments like the introduction of big data, or even the positionality of the scholar. Second, the book investigates the modalities according to which social scientists may intervene in the civic space: in particular as specialists, as experts, or in the media. A third problem brings together some cases illustrative of researchers’ involvement in critical issues, such as food policies, major social reforms, or gender-related questions. Finally, the book concludes with a reflection on the modes of exercising critique or dissent in democratic societies and on the ethical dimensions of involvement in the civic space.

Wednesday, 29 January 2025
05:00 PM at The Alliance Francaise/Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi