culture
Dhaka Lit Fest closing: literature too can be a party
The last day of the 10th Dhaka Lit Fest today began on a calmer note.
Ghosts in Bangla literature and culture
“Bhoot”, the Bangla word for ghost, derives from the Sanskrit word Bhūta, referring to living beings and the past. Later, it also came to mean ‘disembodied spirit.’ Ghost stories carry a special tradition in Bangla literature and the root lies in folklore and rural culture.
Dhaka Lit Fest closing: literature too can be a party
The last day of the 10th Dhaka Lit Fest today began on a calmer note.
Razia Khan Amin: A Bangladeshi writer in English
As an academic, I often share with students my writings that are related to the courses I teach. That was not the case with our educators when I was a student in the Department of English at Dhaka University. The reason was not because there were no writers among our teachers.
New Year’s celebration across cultures
The one thing we do know for sure about the year 2023 is how the world will welcome it.
The mysteries of muslin
Every culture has its own identity, sometimes through a craft or uniqueness that it is known for. In the late 18th century,
Art vs Development: Should we erase our rich architectural history?
Dhaka's transitions carries the question of whether our historic buildings shall be preserved. From an economic viewpoint, there is financial gain in replacing them with buildings. The question now becomes whether the cultural heritage outweighs this financial gain.
‘A platform for erasing the cancelling of the other’: ULAB’s Inter-University Student Conference
The 2022 Inter-University Student Conference and Cultural Competition explored different facets of conflict and avenues for conflict resolution on topics within literature, language, linguistics, cultural studies, communication studies, translation studies, and digital humanities.
Dancing in the storm
In the wake of a looming political and economic storm in Sri Lanka, I took a train to the country’s cultural Kandy, with the intention to learn its popular traditional dance form called Ves Natum. This quest for the silver lining landed me in Amunugama, an ancient village named after the celebrated family of dancers and drummers who once performed at the courts of the Kandyan kings.
The unnecessary glorification of the tortured artist
At the end of the day, art that spreads joy is not lesser than the one sharing their hardships.
Kazi Nazrul Islam and “World Literature”: Some Questions and Concerns
Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976) has been customarily characterized as a rebel poet, particularly, if not exclusively, because of his 1922 poem called “Bidrohi” (the Rebel)—a poem that fiercely stages his political, linguistic, even metrical rebellion all at once.