The Peripheral Effect: How to Write a Non-Eurocentric History of Sociology?

In recent decades, the rise of post-colonial and decolonial theories has generated widespread interest in the ideas and trajectories of non-Western intellectuals. Names such as Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Hussein Alatas and Aníbal Quijano (to name but a few) are commonplace on social theory syllabus, articles and books, while concepts such as “Global South” and “anti-colonial sociology gain traction in diverse sociological discourses. However, the task of writing a non-Eurocentric history of sociology is still in its early stages, as many of these theoretical developments still lack historiographical depth and do not engage with the methods and perspectives of the subfield of the history of sociology (HoS). This paper addresses this problem by outlining a threefold argument: a) it identifies the main theoretical and methodological challenges involved in writing a non-Eurocentric history of sociology; b) it analyses the main contributions made by HoS scholars to overcome these challenges; c) it draws on these contributions to propose a theoretical model for describing how centre-periphery relations can produce different types of effect on the intellectual practices of sociologists.