Abstract:
How do we arrest the decline of the social sciences in Pakistan? Is it a matter of money or one of
sending more students to the West who might then return to teaching at the local universities? In
this article I argue that the solution lies elsewhere. Borrowing frames, concepts, and analytical
techniques based on the concept of universalism runs a serious risk of imposing alien views on local
problems. Moreover, attempts to become ‘scientific’ require side stepping value judgments of good and
bad. The current Western domination of the intellectual scene favours a single route for social science
development, and kills all diversity. However, whilst we may borrow as much as we choose, we need
to build our own frames that would underpin the social sciences, and this is possible only by
reconnecting with our own past.
