Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs is not a biography but a work-o-graphy. It details the life of one of the most renowned sociologists in India and maps his professional journey. The author started his career at Delhi University and shifted to JNU in 1971 when the university started. In JNU, he was stigmatized because of his neutral political position. He was elected as the president of International Sociological Association, the only sociologist to occupy this position so far from Asia and Africa. The narratives regarding this metamorphosis of the author could be inspirational to peers and subsequent generations. Similarly, the account of ‘travails of publishing’ graphically unfolds the challenges to be faced by emerging as well as veteran authors.
Anecdotal in nature, the book provides insights into the functioning of the academic world through the discipline of sociology not only nationally but even globally. A world in which knowledge production and dissemination are becoming increasingly critical, the book also discusses the larger social and political context in which these activities are undertaken. It also brings out the lack of professionalism among Indian sociologists.
Written in a very lucid way, this book will be of interest to social scientists, scholars of media studies and general readers.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR T.K. Oommen
Prof. T.K. Oommen is an eminent Social Scientist and so far the only scholar from Asia and Africa to have been elected to the position of President (1990-94), International Sociological Association (ISA), a fifty-year old UNESCO-sponsored world body of Sociologists. He was the Secretary-General of the XI World Congress of Sociology, the quadrennial Congress of the ISA, held in New Delhi in 1986. Pro. Oommen was also the President of the Indian Sociological Society during 1998-1999. Prof. Oommen authored/edited 18 books and over 100 research papers in top professional journals, both Indian and international. His recent books include: Citizenship, Nationality and Ethnicity, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1997; Equality, Identity and Pluralism, Oxford University Press, 2002; and Nation, Civil Society and Social Movements, Sage Publication, 2004. He has been given three prestigious awards-the V.K.R.V. Rao prize in Sociology (1981); the G.S. Ghurye award in Sociology and Social Anthropology (1985) and the Swami Pranavananda Award for Sociology (1997) in recognition of his professional contributions. An internationally reputed scholar, Prof. Oommen was invited to be a visiting Professor/Fellow at: Department of Sociology, University of California Berkeley (U.S.A.), Fall 1990; Maison des Sciences de L'homme, Paris (France), June-July 1992; Wissenshaftszentrum Berlin, May-July 1993 and June 1994; Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, December 1993; institute of Advanced Studies, Bdapest, Hungary, October 1994-July 1995; Institute of Advanced Studies, Uppsala, Sweden, January-June 1998. Professor Oommen started his academic career in 1964 as a faculty member of Delhi University, joined Jawaharlal Nehru University as Associate Professor in 1971. He became a full Professor in 1976 and retired from JNU in October 2002. At present Professor Oommen is Chair, Non-traditional Security, Delhi Policy group; Chair, Schumacher Centre, Delhi; Chair, Programme Advisory Group, Gujarat Harmony Project, CARE India, New Delhi and President, Forum for India and European Union.
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