Theory Reimagined

As scholars we are eager to get beyond the bounds of knowledge generated in Western Europe and North America, yet we continue to teach classical theory by featuring (mostly white male) scholars from this region. Since the Euro-American perspectives are powerful, around the world, sociological theory focuses on the same theorists.

This book is an attempt to decolonise social theory: to rethink theory by focusing on theorists from other regions, chosen by scholars who live and work in countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. We feature the selections and presentations of sociologists from Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Poland, South Africa, Singapore, and Tunisia.

Rianka Roy, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Wake Forest University, USA; Anjana Narayan, Professor of Sociology, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, USA; Melanie Heath, Professor of Sociology, McMaster University, Canada; Bandana Purkayastha, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies, University of Connecticut, USA

How should we teach and learn theory in Sociology? Once it seemed enough to learn about a handful of founding fathers and modern masters, all men, all White, all from the old imperial centres. But the world is wider and deeper than that, and has changed profoundly. How should we teach and learn theory now? The editors and authors of Theory Reimagined have given us a rich gift: a collection packed with studies of social thought, and social thinkers, from around the post-colonial world. Here students and teachers will find issues ranging from migration to gender, decolonisation, land rights, environment, economic development, school education, political repression, and intellectuals themselves. Many of the details may be unfamiliar, but the writing is clear, and these chapters are worth re-reading. The editors have helpfully added teaching notes and a glossary. It's a bold and practical contribution to the revolution in the social sciences that is under way now.