%0 Journal Article
%@ 0069-9667 (Druck-Ausg.), 0973-0648 (Online-Ausg.)
%A Michaels, Axel
%C Los Angeles, Calif. ; New Delhi
%D 2020
%F heidok:29008
%I Sage (Publ.)
%J Contributions to Indian Sociology
%K Indology, anthropology, philology, caste, colonialism, transculturality
%N 3
%P 357-387
%R 10.11588/heidok.00029008
%T ‘At the point of confluence of sociology and Indology’: Louis Dumont’s postulate reconsidered
%U https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/29008/
%V 54
%X In this article, I aim to show how Louis Dumont’s famous claim that ‘the condition for a sound development of Sociology of India is found in the establishment of the proper relation between it and classical Indology’ has become obsolete and was from the beginning a problematic postulate. I first develop the historical background of the denigration of anthropological approaches in India against the rise of an idealising Indology as a philological discipline. Then I discuss the structural, methodological and ideological problems that made it difficult to follow Dumont’s advice to search for the point of confluence of sociology and Indology. Finally, I place Dumont’s holistic approach in relation to the holistic structure of academic disciplines that emerged in the 19th century on the basis of the nation-state model and argue that it is misleading and reductive to think that ‘the construction of an Indian Sociology rests in part upon the existence of Indology’.
%Z Dieser Beitrag ist aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich. *** This publication is freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.