It is about time that studying social sciences becomes ‘cool,’ observe academics

Academics at Szabist blame textbooks for churning out intolerant Muslims.

KARACHI:

If social sciences can help explain issues as diverse as ethnic violence, sexually transmitted diseases and smoking, it is regretful that most students do not consider it worth studying.

Academics, who were gathered for a conference at Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (Szabist) on Saturday, agreed that social sciences were an outdated subject in Pakistan and discussed ways to make it popular again.

At the outset, historian Dr Mubarak Ali said that, it was going to be an uphill battle, given that most social sciences departments at public universities follow an outdated curriculum.

Keynote speaker Dr Tilo Klinner, Germany’s consul-general in Karachi, started his address with sombre statistics. “According to a recent Gallup Pakistan survey, a massive 67 percent of the students wish to study natural sciences and mathematics. Of the remaining 33 percent who want to study social sciences, most want to pursue economics or political science while only one percent wants to study sociology and other disciplines.”

He went on to highlight how the German consulate uses research from the social sciences to frame policies relevant to Pakistan. Historical analysis indicates that the middle class is a country’s backbone and determines whether it will become prosperous or not.

“An unhappy middle-class is the formula for revolutions that are unpredictable and dangerous,” said Dr Klinner. “If the country plays its cards well, there is a lot of potential for growth. If it plays them badly, however, then a lot of damage can be done and its partners and friends can get hurt in the process.”

Tasneem Ahmed Siddiqui, Orangi Pilot Project’s chairperson, lamented the fact that when the social sciences are taught, factors affecting the poor are ignored. “Take economics for example. I’ve visited the economics department of many universities and the professors there don’t even talk about the informal sector, even though it forms nearly 70 percent of the economy, according to some studies.”



Using social sciences to manage intolerance

Dr Saleh Yucel from Monash University, Australia, explained how social sciences research can be used to explain intolerance. He said that though extremists claim to use earlier and “pure” versions of Islam, if one was to peek into history and look at most of the religions shortly after their inception, you would find peaceful coexistence among faiths.

During the second session of the conference, Karachi University international relations department’s Dr Mutahir Shaikh said it was unfortunate that the study of social sciences started with religion and ended with it. “We have courses, such as Islam and international relations, Islam and political sciences. However, there is no such thing as Islam and Hinduism or Islam and Christianity.”

Dr Mubarak Ali regretted that today’s universities are not forming historians or social scientists. “We are gripped in issues dealing with before partition and after that. We are still thinking over whether we want Jinnah’s Pakistan or Zia’s Pakistan. We need to move beyond Jinnah and Iqbal, and make our own country and form our own ideology.” He blamed the present textbooks for distorting history and churning out intolerant Muslims.

Szabist social sciences department head Dr Riaz Shaikh pointed out that there is no mention of the contributions made by non-Muslim communities in the university course ‘Pakistan Society and Culture’.

With additional input by Rabia Ali

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2012.