Author: Guy Poitevin
Publisher: Manohar
Year: 2002
Language: English
Pages: 394
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8173044120
Description
Weaving of theory, method and epistemology makes the present study a pathfinder.
A wealth of field experiences: six compact subaltern studies, essentially of destitute rural women, put the latter’s capacity to think, speak up and act with autonomy under a new light: initial unwillingness, ambivalence of discourses and practices, protracted processes of symbolic reconstruction, painstaking initiation to social critique, unsecured conquests. In short, there is no one single and scientifically correct blueprint for social transformation but a number of specific strategies.
A depth of reflection: a rigorous analytical framework takes us step by step from the most intimate assertion of dignity to social commitment via a variety of forms of discourse, dissent and protest. In so doing, through reviewing and assessing methods and concepts, the proves an outstanding contribution to the vexing debate on the essence, means, and ends of a social knowledge worth a status of science as well accurate and relevant to the needs of social actors. It also suggests new approaches to the study of culture.
An epistemological innovation: meaningful suggestions between construction of knowledge and social action are clearly spelt out so as to dissipate the usual dilemmas of the researcher and subject’s emotional involvements.