Sujata Patel is a sociologist at the University of Hyderabad

University of Hyderabad

The University of Hyderabad is a post-graduate teaching and research institute in India. It was established by an act of the Parliament in 1974 as a Central University. The university also offers courses under distance learning programs...

.

An historical sensibility and a combination of four perspectives-Marxism, feminism, spatial studies and post structuralism/ post colonialism influences her work which covers diverse areas such as modernity and social theory, history of sociology/social sciences, city-formation, social movements, gender construction, reservation, quota politics and caste and class formations in India. She is also an active interlocutor of teaching and learning practices, its reconstitution within the classroom, University structures and through national and international professional bodies.

Education

Sujata did her Bachelors degree at Elphinstone College

Elphinstone College

Elphinstone College is an institution of higher education affiliated to the University of Mumbai. Established in 1856, it is one of the oldest colleges of the University of Mumbai. It was exalted as a prestigious seat of learning during the British Raj and is generally observed for its vibrant alumni...

 (1969–73) and her Masters from University of Bombay (1975–76). She obtained another Masters degree from Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University

Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...

, Canada (1976–77). After a year’s break she joined the doctoral programme at the Centre for Historical Studies of the Jawaharlal Nehru University

Jawaharlal Nehru University

Jawaharlal Nehru University, also known as JNU, is located in New Delhi, the capital of India. It is mainly a research oriented postgraduate University with approximately 5,500 students and a faculty strength of around 550.-History:...

 (JNU) and obtained a doctorate at the School of Social Sciences in 1984.

Career

Between May 1983 and 1991, Sujata was an independent research scholar working on various projects in Ahmedabad, Bombay and Delhi. During this period, she was a Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and University Grants Commission

University Grants Commission

University Grants Commission may refer to:* University Grants Commission * University Grants Commission * University Grants Commission * University Grants Commission...

s’ Research Scientist affiliated to JNU. In January 1992, she joined the Department of Sociology at the SNDT Women's University

SNDT Women's University

Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University is a women's university in the city of Mumbai, India. The university headquarters are situated at Churchgate in South Mumbai, while the main campus is in Santacruz–Juhu area of Mumbai. SNDT has three campuses: two in Mumbai and one in...

 as Professor. Since then she has moved to two other Universities-In October 1996, she joined the University of Pune

University of Pune

The University of Pune , is a university located in northwestern Pune, India. It was founded in 1949. Spread over a campus, the university is home to 46 academic departments...

 and in June 2009, University of Hyderabad. She is also Visiting Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg

University of Johannesburg

The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Technikon Witwatersrand and the Rand Afrikaans University . Prior to the merger, the Daveyton and Soweto campuses of the former Vista University had been incorporated into RAU...

(2009–2011).

Professional Activities

In her capacity as International Sociological Association's first Vice-President for National Associations she edited The ISA Handbook of Diverse Sociological Traditions (2010), and she has coedited three books on Bombay as a city as well as Thinking Social Science in India (2002); and Urban Studies (2006). In addition to being an author of more than 40 papers, she is Series Editor of Studies in Contemporary Society (Oxford, India), Cities and the Urban Imperative (Routledge, India) and Sage Studies in International Sociology (SSIS-Sage Publications).

Thought and Perspectives

As a historical sociologist, Sujata has investigated the dialectic between micro and macro processes and analysed how these organise state-society relationships in colonial and post independent India. Sujata’s initial research has been how hierarchies, such as class, caste, gender and ethnicity has been formed in and through local conditions in distinct regions, during colonialism and post independence periods. She has examined both the specific local contexts that made for their historical formation as well as the evaluation of the discourses that represent these hierarchies and have framed knowledge systems and mediate in making these hierarchies.

Recent Research

Currently Sujata is working on two projects: The first relates to Bombay/Mumbai as a global city and examines the role played by globalisation and transnationalism in the making of popular culture and politics. The second project examines the sociology of intellectual ideas in postcolonial India, with specific reference to the discipline of Sociology and its institutional expression.

Trivia

Sujata also has interests in arts and aesthetics in the various spheres of her life. Her training in music, dance and art informs her artistic bent of mind. She has a passion for travelling, reading, watching movies on cities and listening to jazz and Indian classical music.

Authored and Edited Books

• The ISA Handbook of Diverse Sociological Traditions (London: Sage, 2010)
• Urban Studies. Readers in Sociology and Social Anthropology (Co-editor) (Delhi: OUP, 2006)
• Bombay and Mumbai. The City in Transisition (Co-edited with Jim Masselos) (Delhi: OUP, 2003)
• Thinking Social Science in India. Essays in Honour of Alice Thorner. (Co-editor with Jashodhara Bagchi and Krishna Raj)(New Delhi: Sage, 2002)
• Bombay Metaphor for Modern India (Co-editor with Alice Thorner) (Bombay and Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995/96/2000)
• Bombay Mosaic of Modern Culture (Co-editor with Alice Thorner) (Bombay and Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995/96/2000)
• Making of Industrial Relations. Ahmedabad Textile Industry 1918-1939 (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986)

Selected Journal Articles and Book Chapters

• 'Sociology’s ‘Other’. The Debate on European Universals in The Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems (Social Sciences and Humanities),UNESCO, 2010.www.eolss.net
• Seva, sangathanas and gurus: service and the making of the Hindu nation in Gurpreet Mahajan and Surinder Jodhka (ed.s) Religion, Community and Development, Delhi, Routledge2010
• Introduction. Diversities of Sociological Traditions in Sujata Patel, (ed) The ISA Handbook of Diverse Sociological Traditions, Sage London, 2010
• At crossroads. Sociology in India in Sujata Patel, (ed) The ISA Handbook of Diverse Sociological Traditions, Sage, London, 2010
• In Conversation with Professor Sujata Patel, Interview with Pooja Adhikary, ISA E Bulletin, Number 14, November 2009
• Doing Urban Studies in India. The Challenges. Special issue on Indian Sociology, South African Review of Sociology, 40 (1) 2009
• The Ethnography of the Labouring Poor in India Introduction, The Jan Breman Omnibus, Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2007
• Towards a praxiological understanding of Indian Society The Sociology of A.R. Desai in Satish Deshpande, Nandini Sundar and Patricia Uberoi (ed.s) Anthropology of the East: The Indian Foundations of a Global Discipline, New Delhi, Permanent Black, 2007
• Sociological Study of Religion, Colonial Modernity, and Nineteenth Century Majoritarianism. Economic and Political Weekly, 42 (13), 1089-1094. 2007
• Mumbai. The Mega-City of a Poor Country in Klaus Segbers (ed) The Making of Global City Regions: Johannesburg, Mumbai/Bombay, Sao Paulo, and Shanghai, Baltimore, John Hopkins Press, 2007
• Empowerment, Co-option, and Domination: The Politics of Employment Guarantee Scheme of Maharashtra in Economic and Political Weekly, 41 (50) 5126-5133, 2006
• Urban Studies: An Exploration in Theory and Practices in Sujata Patel and Kushal Deb (ed.s) Urban Studies, Reader in Sociology and Social Anthropology (Series Editor TN Madan) Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2006
• Beyond Binaries. Towards Self Reflexive Sociologies, Current Sociology, 54 (3), 381-395, 2006
• Challenges to Sociological Practices in India Today, International Sociological Association E Bulletin,Spring March, 2006
• Regional Politics, City Conflicts and Communal Riots: Ahmedabad 1985-86 in Rajendra Vora and Anne Feldhouse (eds) Region and Regionalism, New Delhi Manohar, 353-376, 2006