Decolonising the Founding of Sociology and its Canon: Some Key Questions

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Abstract This paper examines the proposal to decolonise sociology by extending or modifying the list of its founders, or key figures, and by broadening the canon of works that are taken to define it. There is consideration of how founders or key figures are identified and canons constructed; the functions these serve; and the complexities, and grounds for disagreement, that these processes involve. The meaning of ‘decolonising’ a discipline is then considered and evaluated against this background. A series of difficult, unresolved, and frequently neglected, problems are identified, not just about the decolonisation project but also about the nature of sociology as a discipline.