ABSTRACT
Social scientists in South Asia (as contributions to this volume indicate) appear to be confronted with a double predicament. On the one hand is the turbulent transient sociopolitical environment of the area, which demands that something needs to be done, and on the other hand, the means through which this is to be done is deemed ineffective, as can be seen in the increasing devaluation of social sciences. Further, they are confronted with the dilemma of how they should respond to Tolstoy’s question of “What shall we do?” At the same time, the frames from which this answer is to be found have little value to be effective. This chapter offers a canvas of the kind of ebb and tide that social scientists in South Asia have to deal with while negotiating the pathways of their own disciplinary rigor to teach, do research, or publish.
