Malaysian sociologist talks on decolonization of Social Science
Eminent Malaysian sociologist and author Dr Syed Farid Alatas presented a talk on the “Decolonization of Social Science” during his first visit to Bangladesh, on February 4 at the SEL Center, West Panthapath, Dhaka.
This event was organised by the South Asian Institute for Social Transformation (SAIST). Asif Bin Ali, Director, Capacity Building SAIST, was the moderator of the discussion.
Dr Farid is serving as a professor in the Department of Sociology at the National University of Singapore. In his speech, he explained the broad concept of “decolonising” knowledge.
He said, “It is important to challenge the categorization of western sociology while focusing on the non western ideas.”
He said, “We need to challenge the colonial construction of knowledge, and to do so, we need to read them so that one could present standard critic on those concepts.”
He also talked about “the problem within us” where “local hegemony is also playing a role of continuation of western hegemony and thus serving against own interest”. He emphasised the need to infuse current reading syllabi with diversities.
Professor Dr Monirul Islam Khan, Associate Professor Dr Khairul Islam of Dhaka University and Dr Jehran Mehran, Faculty, Zyed University, Abu Dhabi were present in the talk.
SAIST’s Co- Founder Toufica Sultana, Executive Director Ibnul Syed Rana, Director of Research and Innovation Rokeya Akhter and Director of Human Resources department Nusrat Eka were present at the event as well.
Students of different public and private universities from all kinds of disciplines enlivened the discussion. The event ended with a call to action for the well needed modifications in our current educational system.
