Eminent Sociologist Prof. Dipankar Gupta Delivers Special Lecture at Panjab University
The Department of Sociology, Panjab University, today organised a special lecture titled “Sociological Conversations: Dialogue with Students and Faculty”. The session was presided over by Prof. Dipankar Gupta, eminent sociologist and public intellectual, whose engaging address and discussion with students and faculty fostered rich academic dialogue and reflection.
City Air News
Nov 4, 2025 08:58
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Chandigarh, November 4, 2025: The Department of Sociology, Panjab University, today organised a special lecture titled “Sociological Conversations: Dialogue with Students and Faculty”. The session was presided over by Prof. Dipankar Gupta, eminent sociologist and public intellectual, whose engaging address and discussion with students and faculty fostered rich academic dialogue and reflection.
The event was attended by faculty members of the Department of Sociology, including Dr. Vinod Choudhary, Prof. Rani Mehta, Dr. Shamsher Singh, and Medhavi Gulati, along with faculty members from other departments and an enthusiastic gathering of students.
In his thought-provoking talk, Prof. Gupta spoke on a range of sociological themes such as the caste system, multiple modernities, and research methodologies. Drawing from his extensive fieldwork and research on urban slums, he emphasised how knowledge that challenges popular understanding often leads to deeper sociological insight. He urged scholars to approach modernity in terms of its relation with people and not things.
Prof. Gupta also reflected on the role of nostalgia in fieldwork, highlighting how researchers must remain critically aware of their positionalities and emotional investments in the field. The discussions that followed included a lively question-and-answer session, where students and faculty explored issues of dialectical thinking, evolving social relations, and the dynamics of mistaken modernity.
Prof. Kumool Abbi, in her closing remarks, thanked Prof. Gupta for his stimulating insights and for encouraging a culture of open academic dialogue within the department. The session concluded with an appreciation of Prof. Gupta’s contributions to contemporary sociological thought and the continued relevance of his work in understanding India’s complex social realities.
