Aijaz Ahmad ( hi, ऐजाज़ अहमद, ur, اعجاز احمد; 1941 – 9 March 2022) was an Indian-born American Marxist philosopher,

literary theorist Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mora ...

, and political commentator. He was the Chancellor's Professor at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

School of Humanities’ Department of Comparative Literature.

Early life, family and education

Aijaz Ahmad was born in

Muzaffarnagar Muzaffarnagar is a city under Muzaffarnagar District in the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated midway on the Delhi - Haridwar/ Dehradun National Highway (NH 58) and is also well connected with the national railway network. It is ...

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

in 1941.

Career

He was a professorial fellow at the Centre of Contemporary Studies,

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library The Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML) is a museum and library in New Delhi, India, which aims to preserve and reconstruct the history of the Indian independence movement. Housed within the Teen Murti House complex, it is an autonomous ins ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

, India, visiting professor at the Centre for Political Studies,

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties and r ...

, New Delhi, and visiting professor of

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, Canada. He also worked as an editorial consultant with the '' Frontline'' and as a senior news analyst for the news website '' Newsclick''.

Work

In his book ''In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures'', Ahmad primarily discusses the role of theory and theorists in the movement against

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colony, colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose the ...

and imperialism.

Personal life

Ahmad died in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...

, on 9 March 2022, at age 81. He was hospitalised for age-related ailments and had returned home only a few days prior to his death. Rutgers University law professor

Adil Ahmad Haque Adil Ahmad Haque (born 1979/1980) is a professor of law and Judge Jon O. Newman Scholar at Rutgers University. His scholarship focuses on the international law of armed conflict and the philosophy of international law. His first book, Law and Morali ...

is his son.

Bibliography

''In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures''
- Verso, 1992. # ''A World To Win: Essays on the Communist Manifesto'' - with

Irfan Habib Irfan Habib (born August 10, 1931) is an Indian historian of ancient and medieval India, following the methodology of Marxist historiography in his contributions to economic history. He identifies as a Marxist and is well known for his strong ...

and

Prabhat Patnaik Prabhat Patnaik is an Indian Marxist economist and political commentator. He taught at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, from 1974 until his retirement i ...

, LeftWord Books, 1999.
''Lineages of the Present: Ideological and Political Genealogies of Contemporary South Asia''
- Verso, 2001. #
On Communalism and Globalization: Offensives of the Far Right
' - Three Essays Collective, New Delhi, 2002. #''Iraq, Afghanistan and the Imperialism of Our Time'' - LeftWord Books, New Delhi, 2004. #''In Our Time: Empire, Politics, Culture'' - Verso, 2007 Edited # ''Ghazals of Ghalib'' - ed. by Aijaz Ahmad. Oxford India, 1995. (With translations from the Urdu by Aijaz Ahmed,

W.S. Merwin William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thema ...

Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...

, William Stafford, David Ray, Thomas Fitzsimmons,

Mark Strand Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – November 29, 2014) was a Canadian-born American poet, essayist and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990 and received the Wallace Stevens Award in 2004 ...

, and William Hunt) #''A Singular Voice: Collected Writings of Michael Sprinker'' - Editor (with Fred Pfeil and Modhumita Roy), 2000.

References

External links

On Post Modernism
''The Marxist'' XXVII, January–March 2011.
Nationalism and Globalization
Occasional Paper Series 4, Department of Sociology, University of Pune, 2000.
Communalisms: Changing Forms and Fortunes

Jameson's Rhetoric of Otherness and the "National Allegory"
''

Social Text ''Social Text'' is an academic journal published by Duke University Press. Since its inception by an independent editorial collective in 1979, ''Social Text'' has addressed a wide range of social and cultural phenomena, covering questions of gende ...

'', 1987 (On

Fredric Jameson Fredric Jameson (born April 14, 1934) is an American literary critic, philosopher and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends, particularly his analysis of postmodernity and capitalism. Jam ...

's article "Third-world Literature in the Era of Multinational Capital", 1986) * Video. Aijaz Ahmad interviewed by

Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...

for ''The World Today''
Part 1
an
Part 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Aijaz 1941 births 2022 deaths Indian communists Pakistani communists 20th-century Pakistani historians Literary theorists Indian Marxist writers Pakistani Marxists Marxist theorists Urdu-language writers Urdu critics Pakistani expatriates in India Muhajir people Pakistani expatriates in Canada Pakistani emigrants to the United States People from Muzaffarnagar 21st-century Pakistani historians