Abstract
Professor A. M. Shah, the acclaimed doyen of sociology in India passed away on 7 September 2020, nearly a fortnight after his 89th birthday. He joined the Department of Sociology at Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi in 1961 where for 35 years he contributed relentlessly towards establishing a strong tradition of rigorous scholarship in sociology and social anthropology. He researched and wrote extensively on the joint family, household, religion, caste and in more recent times on historical sociology. Having helmed numerous administrative positions in the University, including the directorship of Delhi School of Economics, he retired in 1996.
For 24 years after his retirement, in fact till the last day of his life, Professor Shah was dedicated towards academic pursuits that have enriched the discipline and enlarged the repertoire of publications. His books—Exploring India’s Rural Past (2002), The Writings of A. M. Shah: The Household and Family in India (2014), Sociology and History (2017), The Structure of Indian Society (2012, 2019)—and research articles expanded the horizons of the discipline. He was involved in co-editing a series of books based on the Journal of Anthropological Society of Bombay, published between 1886–1936, which he chanced upon. He scoured various institutions and libraries in India and abroad to obtain copies of this journal in order to complete his set. The first edited volume, Essays on Suicide and Self-Immolation, was published and others were under process. This work brought a shift in the understanding of anthropology as a colonial project to contextualise its development in the engagement of civil society with social issues.
As an exemplary scholar, Professor Shah was conferred the prestigious Malcolm Adiseshiah Award (2020) for lifetime contribution to the field, an award which he was to receive in November this year. He was also felicitated with many other awards: the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Indian Sociological Society in 2009, the Swami Pranavananda Award by the UGC and the Distinguished Service Award by the University of Delhi. He held fellowships at the University of Chicago; the Centre for Advanced Study in Behavioural Sciences, Stanford; the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK; the University of New England, Australia; and was a National Fellow at the Indian Council for Social Science Research New Delhi.
Professor Shah’s sociological sensibilities were shaped by Professor M. N. Srinivas who introduced him to sociology at the undergraduate level and later became his PhD guide at M. S. University, Baroda. Professor Srinivas returned from Oxford to start the sociology department in M.S. University. Proximity with Professor Srinivas during his formative years sowed the seeds for a bountiful sociological harvest for generations of students. In fact, Professor Shah’s own training in fieldwork started early as a first year undergraduate student when he accompanied Professor Srinivas to his study of a village in Mysore for two months. By the end of his Master’s degree in 1955, Professor Shah had published two papers based on his fieldwork conducted in Gujarat. He interacted with scholars from Oxford, Chicago and Stanford who visited Professor Srinivas in Baroda. Later, he worked for a year on doctoral data in Chicago and Stanford. His elaborate and extensive field notes that set the standards of empirical research, have been handed over to the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, digitising them to guide future generations of researchers.
Professor Shah in a sense repaid his guru by immortalising his mentor’s scholarship in his book, The Legacy of M. N. Srinivas: His Contribution to Sociology and Social Anthropology in India (2020) and by training his students in rigorous learning imbibed while he himself was a young scholar. A meticulous researcher, teacher and research guide, he would painstakingly read the drafts of his students and colleagues’ papers because he believed that scholarship is always enriched with comments and criticism. Almost all his PhD students’ theses have been by reputed publishers.
Professor Shah’s service to the profession extended beyond research and teaching. He not only instilled fresh life and systematised the proceedings of the Indian Sociological Society (ISS) but also regularised the editing and publication of its journal, Sociological Bulletin. He was the secretary of ISS in 1967 and then again in 1970–1972, and later served as its President from 1991–1993. He was also a trustee of the Centre for Culture and Development, Vadodara, and an advisor on a large number of research initiatives.
Professor Shah, set very lofty academic standards. His Gandhian simplicity and integrity and rich legacy of his academic works will continue to inspire future generations of students and professional colleagues. He will be missed acutely.