Articles by D N Dhanagare

In her classroom teaching Sharmila Rege constantly focused on how the interaction of students with the lived experiences of activists in social/ protest movements and also with the masses could deepen their understanding of social reality as well as the close linkages between theory and ideology on the one hand and between theory, ideology and praxis on the other. She believed that gender studies and dalit studies were organically linked.

This paper examines, in two parts, the extent to which Indian sociologists have creatively engaged themselves in systematic use of history for understanding and explaining social phenomena. It also critically assesses the rigour with which a reconstruction of past events and experiences has been attempted so as to understand and explain the present in sociological studies in India. While reviewing seminal writings of scholars who used Indology extensively, as also those of sociologists who have attempted systematic use of history in macroanalysis, this paper focuses attention on contributions of Indian sociologists who have used the historical method rigorously in rural studies, as also in studies of social movements, agrarian structure and change, caste and analysis of industrial and urban settings. Finally, it distinguishes between "metaphoric" and "substantive" use of history and opines that the real potential of historical sociology lies in the latter. It also expresses optimism that despite the initial indifference of Indian sociologists towards history, they are now rediscovering their discipline's roots in history and are also realising its intrinsic value in generating, what Earnest Nagel (1961) called, "historical explanation". [The second and concluding part will be published next week.]

This article reports the experience of joint forest management (JFM) initiatives in Uttar Pradesh. Sustainable use of land and forest produce requires a change in attitudes both of government departments and the people. 'Joint' in JFM remains on paper as forest departments work for, rather than with, the people. The initiative also needs to be integrated with other rural development programmes, and to give women a larger role.

Misplaced Priorities, Mismanagement of Water Resources D N Dhanagare Why is it that conditions of water and food scarcity have become a recurrent historical pattern in Maharashtra, particularly in the less developed regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada? Why does this progressive and industrially advanced state have to suffer such an ignoble water scarcity after four decades of planned development? And, above all, why is it that chief ministers and ministers come and go, and political fortunes of parties too rise and fall, often dramatically, but the non-availability of safe and adequate drinking water to the common man and woman in rural Maharashtra continues unabated?

Sociology of a Movement D N Dhanagare Non-Bramhan Movement in Maharashtra by M S Gore; Segment Book Distributors (for G B Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad), New Delhi,