Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
@sust.edu
Professor (Department of English)
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
Dr Mohammad Shafiqul Islam, (ORCID: , is Professor in the Department of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh. His research interests encompass, but are not restricted to, Postcolonialism, World Literature, Translation Studies, Anthropocene, and South Asian Literature. Other than scholarly work in literature, he is committed to creative writing, poetry, and literary translation. Dr Islam is the author of two poetry collections, most recently Inner State (2020), and the translator of Humayun Ahmed: Selected Short Stories and Aphorisms of Humayun Azad. His research articles, poetry, and translation have appeared in Journal of Postcolonial Writing, Critical Survey, Journal of World Literature, South Asian Review, Journal of Global Postcolonial Studies, Asia Pacific Translation and Intercultural Studies, English, Massachusetts Review, The NEHU Journal, and Poem: International English Language Quarterly.
EDUCATION
PhD, AUS, India (2018)
MA in English, CU, Bangladesh (2000; exam held in 2004)
BA (Hons) in English, CU, Bangladesh (1999; exam held in 2003)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Postcolonialism, World Literature, Translation Studies, Anthropocene, and South Asian Literature
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scopus Publications
Md. Masudul Islam Khan and Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Informa UK Limited
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Informa UK Limited
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Routledge India
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Abstract Fakrul Alam, an academic, editor, essayist, and critic, is one of the leading translators of Bengali literature. With more than four decades of teaching experience at Dhaka University, Bangladesh, where he is currently Director of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Research Institute for Peace and Liberty, he has contributed widely to research and translation. His areas of research include, among others, colonial and postcolonial literatures, South Asian literature, and translation studies. Well known as a translator of Jibanananda Das (1899–1954), a great poet of Bengali literature, and Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), a Nobel Prize winning poet and writer, Alam has also translated works of various genres, including nonfiction and song-lyrics. His translations of the works of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation, famously called ‘Bangabandhu,’ Friend of Bengal, are remarkable and internationally acclaimed. In this interview, Alam has given an account of his rich body of translated works as well as his motivations to venture into translation. Moreover, he has addressed various issues of translation and translation studies along with his long journey as a translator from a postcolonial nation like Bangladesh. The interview, above all, focuses on Alam’s career as a translator, his reflections on literary translation, the challenges and prospects of Bengali literature in translation into English, his own individual strategies and techniques of translation, and his current and future translation projects. The interview was conducted online during March and April 2021.
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Informa UK Limited
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
ACCB Publishing
Bangladesh, a developing country located in South Asia, is one of the most environmentally vulnerable countries in the world. Global warming and climate change affect the country’s ecological balance, imposing threats to the existence of humans and animals, especially in flood-prone areas. Natural calamities, including floods, upsurges, cyclones, droughts, and so on, frequently hit some parts of the country. Bangladesh has already encountered massive floods in 1974 and 1988; the giant cyclones in 1970 and 1991; Sidr in 2007, and Ayla in 2009. Floods occur almost every year; as a result, many places of the country are submerged, and people suffer colossal losses—often, their houses and crops are washed away. Many families turn homeless and destitute, living in extreme poverty, and die of hunger. Global warming and climate change are also responsible for heavy rain inundating several cities and for drought destroying crops. The government of Bangladesh attempts to draw international attention to the impacts of global warming and climate change in different forums. In COP26, which took place in Glasgow in November 2021, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh seriously addressed the issue and sought the attention of world leaders to take steps to redress the impacts of climate change and global warming. This study attempts to delve into the environmental issues, COP26, and the effects of climate change and global warming in Bangladesh.
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Informa UK Limited
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Informa UK Limited
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Informa UK Limited
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Brill
Abstract This article observes that Kaiser Haq has made an immense contribution to Bangladeshi poetry in English, leading the school of English poetry of the country from the front. A relatively new field, Bangladeshi writing in English has started becoming a part of world literature, and its scope, no doubt, is expanding rapidly. The article also focuses on the legacy of Bangladeshi writing in English to demonstrate how Bangladeshi poetry in English has simultaneously progressed. The article argues that Haq’s enormous contributions justify his position as the best English-language poet in Bangladesh. For his poetry, the poet takes material from his motherland and its rich culture, and his style, technique, and diction resonate with those of prominent poetic voices of the world. The article also sheds light on how Haq presents Bangladesh, depicting numerous shades of reality, and how he still dominates in the contemporary scene of Bangladeshi poetry in English.
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam and Rama Islam
Informa UK Limited
Abstract Patriarchal societies in many respects, as history witnesses, sideline women and consider them inferior to men. In these societies, men treat women as servants and use tools of patriarchy to silence their voices, although they contribute equally, and sometimes more substantially, to the development of a nation where their contributions are not duly acknowledged. In postcolonial Indian society, women are regarded as mere “objects” and “others.” As a leading figure of the twentieth century Indo-Anglican fiction, Anita Desai holds a vision of feminism that addresses the confrontation of women against patriarchal oppression. In most of her novels, middle-class women in contemporary India strive to overcome societal limitations imposed by patriarchy. Desai differs from other feminists as she emphasizes individual salvation through self-exploration and motivation. This article is an attempt to discover how women suffer silently and look for freedom in Desai’s famous novels Clear Light of Day and Fire on the Mountain. The article highlights two of her leading characters, Bimla and Nanda Kaul, who struggle to conquer the challenges of patriarchy, and seek freedom, identity, voice and dignity.
Mohammad Shafiqul Islam
Berghahn Books
Jhumpa Lahiri’s latest book, In Other Words, is an autobiographical text that highlights the author’s journey to a new land and language. She grows up in America, communicates in Bengali with her parents during her early childhood and uses English in school; a sense of ambivalence about language dawns in her at this time. Her parents insist that Bengali be a dominant language in her life, but she falls in love with English, which later becomes her own language and the medium of her literary writing. During her doctoral studies, she feels an impulse to learn Italian and desperately strives to speak and write in that language. In Other Words, originally written in Italian, is the ultimate outcome of her aspirations to learn Italian. As the author switches from one language to another, from Bengali to English, and then from English to Italian, she forms an ambivalent sense of separation and proximity. This article seeks to explore Lahiri’s love for language, her sense of alienation and belonging, loss and achievement, and her search for identity and metamorphosis.
RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Publications
Inner State (poetry collection); Aphorisms of Humayun Azad (translation); Humayun Ahmed: Selected Short Stories (translation); Wings of Winds (poetry collection)