Huma Rehman

Second Reflection Note

Decolonizing Sociology- Raewyn Connell

Raewyn Connell is an Australian sociologist and is well known for her book, ‘Southern

theory,’ which brings forward 'world social science' - that is inclusive of many voices -and hence

a global recognition of social theory from societies outside European and Western world. We see

that Raewyn Connell understands the importance of inclusivity in social sciences and raises these

issues through her academic and intellectual work.

In “Decolonizing Sociology,” Connell explains the process involved in decolonizing

sociology as a discipline. She mentions that such a process will require practical answers to vital

questions such as how to redesign curricula, how to reshape sociology’s workforce, how to

redistribute academic and research related resources. She explains the history behind set of

events that provided the Western world to dominate world economy and the knowledge

economy.

Post-colonialism and an anti-imperialist politics enabled people to view the negative

affects played by eurocentrism on fields such as sociology and other related disciplines including

criminology, sociology of gender, urban studies. It also enabled the view of new, better, and

more useful perspectives on these disciplines.

Connell states that following the global practices related to sociology in academic terms

leads to reproduction of the conventional division of labor. In a field such as sociology, the

concept of same set of rules and practices everywhere defeats the very purpose of the field. It

also goes against any knowledge that any social science has made humanity learn.
 Connell talks about different approaches such as redistribution of resources, the mosaic

approach of learning (opting for mosaic epistemology in which separate knowledge systems sit

beside each other like tiles in a mosaic, each based on a specific culture or historical experience)

against the normative approaches in sociology. However, her main purpose through this piece of

writing is not to give us a solution. The main purpose is to awaken a sense of responsibility

among students of sociology to be the diverse workforce that is needed, to think about questions

related to decolonizing the discipline and to play their part in knowledge formation as a global

and truly diverse activity.