ENH News Update, February 2025

The Department of English and Humanities hosted its first book talk for Spring 2025 on Thursday, 13th of February, at BRAC University. This session covered two book talks by Dr Mahruba Mowtushi, an Associate professor of English and Dr Nahid Afrose Kabir, a Professor of History in the Department of English and Humanities. 

Dr. Mahruba Mowtushi presented her book Africa in the Bengali Imagination: from Calcutta to Kampala, 1928-1973, the first significant monograph to critically examine Bengali literary engagements with Africa in the colonial and immediately postcolonial period. Dr. Mahruba Mowtushi's Africa in the Bengali Imagination looks at the writings of key Bengali authors such as Bibhutibhusan Bandyopadhyay, Hemendra Kumar Roy, Rabindranath Tagore, Ganesh Bagchi and Rajat Neogy. It offers an in-depth look at the interconnected histories, cultural exchanges and cartographic imaginaries tying South Asia and Africa together in an age of transformation.

Dr. Nahid Afrose Kabir presented her book American Muslim Perspectives on Radicalization, an original study based on 51 in-depth interviews conducted in nine US states between 2017 and 2021, offering a thematic understanding of the process of radicalization. American Muslim Perspectives on Radicalization is the first study of radicalization to focus on the perspectives of non-radicalized Muslims in the United States and offers a new spectrum of views from the United States.

Professor Nahid Afrose Kabir’s (ENH) adjunct professor positions at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, and the University of South Australia (UniSA) in Adelaide, Australia have been extended for another three years. Dr Kabir first got this position at ECU in June 2018. This is her 3rd extension at ECU. Dr Kabir got her first Adjunct Professor position at UniSA in January 2016, and this is her 4th extension at UniSA.

Congratulations to Dr. Sabreena Ahmed, Associate Professor, ENH for being invited as a research fellow by INTI International University Malaysia for the tenure of 2nd December 2024 to 31st December 2025. As a Research Fellow, she will have the opportunity to participate in various university activities, including research symposiums, academic conferences, research projects, guest lectures, mirror classes, visiting scholars, and more.

ENH faculty Rukhsana Rahim Chowdhury was invited as a guest speaker to the International Mother Language and Martyrs’ Day event held at the Muktijuddho Jadughor (Liberation War Museum) on  February 21, 2025. More than 18 different Indigenous and other non-Bengali languages of the country were represented in the form of recitations, songs, and dance performances. The reading of Urdu short story, Bansuri ki Awaz and its English translation by Rukhsana Chowdhury, Sound of the Flute was highly appreciated and enjoyed by the audience.

Dr Mahruba Mowtushi of the Department of English and Humanities was in conversation with the contemporary Bangladeshi writer Farah Ghuznavi at the ‘Bhasha Utshaab’ organised by the Gulshan Society at the Bottola Lake Park on February 22, 2025. The session celebrated the art of reading and writing, and an engaging 'adda' followed, centred on Ghuznavi's latest book, the tenth anniversary edition of Fragments of Riversong (Nymphea Publications). The discussion focused on "flash fiction," the importance of reading, literary inspirations and influences, as well as audience questions and observations about the aspirations of young Bangladeshi writers and the perks of creative writing. The mini literature festival was also attended by students and faculty from the Department of English and Humanities. 

•    Professor Asifa Sultana was a discussant at the International Seminar 2025 organised by the International Mother Language Institute on the occasion of the International Mother Language Day ‘25. She was a discussant to Prof. David Peterson’s keynote speech on multilingualism and intercultural communication. In her part of the seminar, she addressed elements from Prof. Peterson’s talk, and extended them to various multilingual contexts in Bangladesh. The seminar was held on 22 February 2025.

•    Professor Asifa Sultana was invited to participate in the National Consultation on the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. The programme, held on 26 and 27 February ’25, was organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in collaboration with the International Mother Language Institute. The event presented a series of seminars by various stakeholder groups in Bangladesh who are associated with the preservation of indigenous culture, language and identity in Bangladesh including community representatives, activists, researchers, and international partners.

The Department of English and Humanities at Brac University held a workshop titled “MEMORYSCAPES: Historiographies & Methodologies around the 1947 Partition” on the campus in Dhaka on 17th and 18th February 2025. The workshop was a part of the a scholars exchange and outreach programme consisting of three inter-connected workshops at NIT Silchar, Brac University and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). These workshops are part of a two-year research project entitled “Canonization of Partition Literature and the Politics of Memorialization in South Asia 2023-2025” that was initiated with the support of the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), Ministry of Education, India.