Tracing the Discipline of Sociology in the North-Eastern Region

Sociology as a subject of study was unheard of in North-Eastern India in the 1970s, except in certain tracts known as the Upper Assam. The growth and expansion of sociology in the region are largely attributable to the establishment of the North-Eastern Hill University. Today, sociology is taught in almost all colleges and university departments in the region. Even faculty members in college and university departments are overwhelmingly from the region. They are trained and educated either outside or within it. The Northeast, as a peripheral region, has historically posed a range of challenges worth reflecting on. Some of these challenges are common to universities in general, while others are distinctive to the region. The latter is the key focus of this article. The article will engage with the discipline, focusing on postgraduate teaching and research programmes and the corresponding experiences at these different levels, including students’ responses and participation.