Pathways of Public Sociology in Nepal

The emergence of sociology as a science offering universal knowledge about society regardless of the historical and structural base and the specificity of the context became a fertile ground for scholars attached to particularism, which appealed to those who sought to challenge the hegemony of Western Sociology roughly after the 1950s. Around the same time, in between the 1950s and 1970s, the discovery of the noble concept 'Third World' in social sciences disheartened the separatist theories for the study of separate Worlds. From the 1970s, world system analysts took the initiative to minimize the dichotomy between universalism and particularism urging the dissolution of sociology into a broad social science. The dissolving of sociology into a broad social science would be suicidal for some sociologists; hence, they advocated for the development and strengthening of sociology as global sociology the backbone of which was the public sociology. Such an endeavor was supposed to offer two advantages; the bridging of gap between universalism and particularism, and the defending of discipline from the shade of economics and political science.

It was perhaps the possible threat of encroachment of sociology from social sciences disciplines in general and from economics and political science in particular was quickly realized by the Nepali sociologists and established Central Department of Sociology as an independent department within the Tribhuvan University (TU), the idea adjacent to public sociology. In this context, this paper identifies the key issues that the public sociology is expected to cover and crosschecks whether such issues are inserted within the curriculum of sociology at the TU. Also, structured interviews with the faculties, members of the Sociology Subject Committee, and curriculum developers are taken to find out the direction sociology is taking. The paper argues that the incorporation of public issues in sociology helps the subject stay alive.