Shahnewaz Kabir has been working at ULAB as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and Humanities since October 2007. He is the faculty advisor of ULAB Debating Club and coordinates a reading group called "Return to Freud".
Shahnewaz Kabir became passionate about Literature and Philosophy in the higher secondary stage while participating in a college level enlightenment program organized by Bishho Shahitto Kendro, and in the open reading groups held in Shangskriti Bikash Kendro. He studied BA in English (2000) and MA in English Literature (2001) in Jahangirnagar University. Later he earned MA in Aesthetics with ‘Philosophy and Literature’ as major from the Department of Philosophy, University of Southampton (2004).
Mr. Kabir teaches courses on literary theories and contemporary world literature at ULAB. His present interest of research includes ‘Philosophy and Literature’, which basically deals with literary treatment of philosophical themes, and philosophical treatment of issues raised by literature. He takes special interests in literary works of Lalon Shah, Milan Kundera, Marquez, Selim Al-Din, Shahidul Jahir, and literary theories of Freud, Jung and Lacan. He has published essays on Sentimentality, Kitsch, and Kundera.
Degree and Institute Detail:
MA in Aesthetics with Philosophy and Literature as major University of Southampton, UK. [Session: 2002-3.] M.A. Dissertation: "Sentimentality and Kitsch in Literature". (Obtained 2nd Class)
MA in English Literature Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. [Session: 1997-98.] (Obtained 2nd Class)
BA (Hons.) in English Literature Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. [Session: 1993-94.] (Obtained 2nd Class)
Conferences/Seminars Attended:
Presented Papers/Seminars
"The Notion of Betrayal in Milan Kundera's Novels" (Stamford Conference on Language and Literature, January 27, 2011)
"Food for Thought" (Paper presented in a seminar series, Department of English and Humanities, ULAB, January 5, 2010)
"Jean Paul Sartre's Nausea and Existentialism" (Seminar Series, Department of English, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, January to March 2007)
"The Unbearable Lightness of Kitsch" (Paper presented in a seminar series, Department of English and Humanities, ULAB, November 15, 2007)
"I am explaining a Few Things: Pablo Neruda's Shift in Poetic Career" (Paper presented in a seminar series, Department of English, Stamford University Bangladesh, March 27, 2006)
"Immortality of Novelist" (Paper presented in a seminar series, Department of English and Humanities, ULAB, July 30, 2011)
Professional Work Experience:
Senior Lecturer in Department of English & Humanities, the Advisor of ULAB Debate Club and Coordinator of Return to Freud, in University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) since 2007.
Teaching interests include courses on: • History of Western Thought (Ancient Greek, Analytical) • Existentialism in Literature (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Sartre) • Literary Theories
Additional Information:
Present Research Interests
Central philosophical issues concerning the reading and interpretation of literature
Theories of Emotion
Psychoanalysis: Sigmund Freud to Jacques Lacan
Publications in Referred Journals:
"The Role of Characters in the Moral Conflicts in Antigone", Stamford Journal of English, vol. 1, 2005, pp.107-114
"A Response to Rick Anthony Furtak’s Poetics of Sentimentality", Stamford Journal of English, vol. 2, 2005, pp. 87-97.
"The Folding Screen of Kitsch", Crossings: ULAB Journal of English Studies, vol. 1, 2008, pp. 151-158.
