A tribute to Dr KMA Aziz

It was in the year of 1993 that I met Dr K M Ashraful Aziz. I was a student of honours first year in the department of anthropology at Dhaka University. I went to ICDDR, B at Mohakhali to see him after I had read his wonderful book an anthropology, The Kinship in Bangladesh. He was a Senior Scientist of the canter at that time, I became a very close associate of him when we worked together in different professional bodies like 'Bangladesh Environmental Society', 'Asiatic Society of Bangladesh' and 'Bangladesh Health Education Society.'

He was the Secretary General of 'Bangladesh Environmental Society', Senior Vice President of 'Bangladesh Health Education Society' and an editor of 'Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, a project initiated by 'The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh'. After that when he joined as a Research Specialist in the Research and Evaluation Division of BRAC, I was working there as a Research Anthropologist. We worked in the same project and I have the opportunity to see him from an close distance. Even during the last years of his life, when he was working as a Consultant (he was in this position at the time of his death) at ICDDR, B, I had a very close association with his work. Mixing with him, getting closer to him and his family is a memorable part of my life. A researcher, a scientist and a person full of life like him is very rare. He was simply extraordinary.

One of the pioneers of anthropological research in Bangladesh, Dr KMA Aziz started his career at ICDDR, B 35 years from now. Since then, he devoted his life towards the development of anthropological research and became one of the key scientists and the most celebrated anthropologist in ICDDR, B. He has hundreds of highly recognised scientific articles and about 15 books to his credit, which are the best spokesmen of his work. His monographs in the field of kinship, life stages, beliefs, fertility and diarrhea management at the community level earned global recognition for the center and for himself.

Today, anthropology is a recognised discipline in Bangladesh. Hundreds of anthropologists are involved in the study and research in almost all the public universities and in the development and research organisations outside university. However, anthropological research was not an easy task in 60s and 70s. Outside the universities, it was even more difficult. Dr KMA Aziz was the torchbearer of the anthropological fieldwork and research in Bangladesh. He started this difficult journey facing enormous straggle and obstacles and continued to do that during his three decades of research at ICDDR, B. He made anthropology reader-friendly and popularises the discipline in Bangladesh. His scholarly articles received high appreciation and recognition at home and abroad.

As a person, he was even more wonderful. He was a source of inspiration and admiration to everyone he met. His amicable nature, the ease in his personality and a charismatic power to attract people made him special to his colleagues and fellows.

Mixings and spending time with his colleagues and students (he was a part time visiting professor for many institutions at home and abroad) and participating in different seminars, symposia, social gatherings and festivals were a distinct feature of his character. I myself accompanied him to at least 50 programmes of this sort. As an anthropologist, field was his passion. He spent quite a significant portion of his time in the field during his 35 year career at ICDDR, B. Besides, he spent several years in the field at the time of his Ph D and M Phil. research. He always inspired us to learn from the field.

Dr Aziz is no more with us. The death of this outstanding scholar is a great loss in the field of anthropology in particular and social science at large. But his works, his research and his publications remain as an invaluable resources and source of inspiration for all of us. He will survive in his works.

A K M Mazharul Islam is teacher of Anthropology at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet.