New Dean at the Faculty of Social Science
ALIGARH: Prof Shafey Kidwai, Department of Mass Communication, Aligarh Muslim University, and Director Sir Syed Academy, has been appointed Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, for a period from June 26, 2024 to April 7, 2025, the date of his superannuation.
A noted bilingual scholar and critic, columnist, a distinguished communication academician and translator, Prof Kidwai has received the highest literary award in the country, Sahitya Akademi Award for his enterprising work on Sir Syed in Urdu, “Sawanah-e-Sir Syed”. He is the recipient of Kalinga Book Award, Madhya Pradesh Government’s prestigious award for literature, Iqbal Samman and Uttar Pradesh Urdu Academy’s highest award for literary achievement, Amir Khusro Award.
His well-researched works on Sir Syed, including his bestseller book published by Routledge in 2020, “Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: Reason, Religion and Nation”, have earned him the stature of a distinguished Sir Syed scholar. His other book, “Urdu Literature and Journalism: Critical Perspective” (Cambridge University Press, India, 2014) enumerates how Urdu journalism and literature resisted the alien rule and urged the countrymen to wage a relentless struggle against the subjugation.
He has published 12 books in English and Urdu including “Sawanah-e-Sir Syed”, “Aligarh Institute Gazette: Ek Tajziyati Mutala”, “Fiction Mutale’at”, “Miraji”, “Khabar Nigari”, Michael Mdhusudan Dutt” and “R.K. Nrayan”, etc. He also compiled and translated frequently used terms of mass communication in Urdu and prepared a style book for the ETV Urdu, Hyderabad.
His book reviews and columns regularly appear in The Hindustan Times, The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Outlook, The Frontline, The Book Review and The Siyasat. His fortnightly column “Going Native” for the Friday Review of The Hindu, received wide appreciation from scholars in India and abroad.
He served Sahitya Akademi twice as a member of its General Council and was a member of the Urdu Advisory Board, Sahitya Akademi for three terms. He was also the convener of the Bhasha Committee (Urdu) for the Saraswati Samman and Jnanpith Award. He was also a General Council Member of the National Council for the Promotion of the Urdu Language. He is the editorial board member of the reputed journal, Rozan-e-Rekhta and others, and contributes regularly to the literary journals of Urdu and English.
He has been teaching communication theories, cultural studies, broadcast journalism, and film studies since 1985. He was appointed Professor in 2005 and served as the Chairman of the Department of Mass Communication four times. Presently, he is heading the Sir Syed Academy as its Director since February 2024.