TISS Guwahati- Centre for Sociology and Social Anthropology is delighted to present Eroteme Volume 3. Happy Reading!
More in this magazine
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2026 (LATE EDITION)V O L U M E 3
- EROTEME2 Message From The Centre Chair
- EROTEME3 CENTRE REPORT2025-2026
- EROTEMEFaculty Highlights 4
- EROTEME5 From First Steps to Farewells: The SSA Family
- EROTEMEStudent Spotlight Academic Achievements:
- EROTEMECentre Initiatives/Activities FRIDAY DISCUSSIONS
- EROTEME8 Field Visits and Reports
- EROTEMEField Visits and Reports FIELD VISIT TO KALAKSHETRA
- EROTEME10 ‘On Sociology, Teaching, and a Changing World’
- EROTEME11 In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora (contd.)
- EROTEME12 In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora (contd.)
- EROTEME13 In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora (contd.)
- EROTEME14 In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora (contd.)
- EROTEMESTUDENT CORNER 15
- EROTEMEWritten By: Antarlina Bhattacharjee Poetry Collection
- EROTEMEMargins (continued)
- EROTEME18 Photo by Ana Jovanovski on Unsplash
- EROTEME19 ck by the flowers, but weirdly critical of the rest of the wild foliage in their conservative views of a garden. Nevertheless, it was thriving amongst the rows of concrete. Lying on the moist soil with my hands under my head, I was almost content with my garden, almost because I was only wishing, stubbornly like a child my age would, for that one corner to be housed with the summer dream of a mango tree; after all, I shared history with such a tree.
- EROTEME20 devtas and asuras where there were only…things, or no-things. Though there was some sense in locating impurities caused by a bathroom near our kitchen or mandir But my parents acknowledged him immediately by estimating the cost of redoing much of our home. It would resolve our circumstances. And as long as I got to hear prospects of a room to myself, I was happy.
- EROTEME21 The Story of Migration in ‘Dinwa Ginat Mori’
- EROTEME22 Illusion
- EROTEME23 Ra ta ta ta ta ta ta
- MEET THE TEAMEROTEME VOLUME 3 Editorial Team
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EROTEME
‘On Sociology, Teaching, and a Changing World’
In Conversation with Prof. Sanjay Barbora
Thank you for taking the time to speak with us for the SSA Eroteme newsletter. We hope you are doing well. To begin with, as someone who taught at the Centre for Sociology and Social Anthropology at Tata
Institute of Social
Sciences, Guwahati, memories, are there classroom any particular moments, or student interactions that you still fondly remember?
I am thrilled to be responding to the Eroteme team after serving as its first faculty advisor in 2023-2024.
There are so many wonderful memories of teaching at the Centre for Sociology and Social
Anthropology at TISS Guwahati. I honestly feel I learned more than I taught. From the first batch (in 2015) to the last (until I left in 2023), I made it a point to teach the incoming first-year batch in their first semester. Students arrived with anxieties and dreams in equal measure, so watching them grow in confidence over the two years was very special. I know the theory classes are exceptionally boring, and every cohort I taught was polite enough not to let it be known to my face that they hated the class.
However, occasionally the mask slipped. There were times when students fell asleep in the middle of class, or, in their frustration and anger, would press me for reasons why these “old dead European men” mattered! This forced me to centre students’ experiences and contextualise the impact of the Industrial Revolution, colonialism, and modernisation on their lives. Hopefully, it made the theory classes relevant and less boring.
PROF SANJAY BARBORA
Associate Professor University of California, Santa Cruz
Sanjay Barbora teaches sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was the Former Dean and Faculty member of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Guwahati. His research spans peace-building and reconciliation, food sovereignty in the Eastern Himalayas, and the politics of Northeast India.
He is the author of the book: Homeland Insecurities: Autonomy, Conflict, and Migration in Assam (2022). His coauthored works include- Land, People, and Politics: Contest over tribal land in Northeast India, and Modernisation and Women’s Status in the Northeast India.
How do you think sociology and social anthropology can help us better understand the rapidly changing social realities of our times?
Sociology and social anthropology are disciplines that encourage students to value empirical work. Our pedagogical methods require deeper engagement with the world we share with other sentient beings. The ability to reflect and