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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I Is For Nilima Ibrahim

Today's post is about a writer and teacher from the tiny nation of Bangladesh, a country once part of Pakistan, but took its name after a brutal liberation war in 1971. Nilima Ibrahim was a teacher and writer, who specialized in Bengali literature.

Nilima was a career academic, an unusual occupation in an area where women all too often do not have a voice. She earned her bachelor's degree from Scottish Church College and her MA in Bengali literature from the University of Calcutta in 1943. She would later go to earn a doctorate from the University of Dhaka in 1959. This was at a time when there were not even a whole lot of Western women earning advanced degrees. She taught at various schools such as Khulna Coronation Girls School and Loreto House, until her appointment as lecturer at the University of Dhaka. In 1972 she became a full professor.

Nilima's writing career took off shortly after her doctoral degree in the late 1950's. She published various works on Bengali literature, essays on the origin and development of the literary traditions, as well as a short biography of Bengal poet Banglar Kavi Madhusudan. She wrote several novels, short stories, plays and even a travelogue. Nilima also translated several works into her native Bengali including biographies of Eleanor Roosevelt and author James Fenimore Cooper.

Her seminal work, though, was a collection of accounts of the rape of Bengali women during the 1971 liberation war called Ami Virangana Bolchhi, or I, the Heroine Speaks, published in 1996. Here, at last, the women brutalized during that time were given a voice, a chance to make their stories known to world after twenty-five years of silence.

Nilima was honored with the Ananya Literary Award in 1996 as well as the Begum Rokeya Medal. In 2000, she was given the Ekushey Padak Award, which is the one of the highest civilian honors in Bangladesh, named for the martyrs of the Language Movement of 1952, a political demonstration that turned violent and resulted in the killings of several students.

Fun Facts

Nilima published her autobiography in 1991 entitled Bindu-Visarga or Dot and Ghost.

She served as the Vice Chair Person of the World Women's Federation South Asian Zone.

Thanks for stopping by today. Your visit is very much appreciated. If you're participating in the Big A to Z, please click here to check out the other amazing participants.

17 comments:

  1. Another sterling choice pointing out how insular my world is - but learning about her late is better than not learning about her at all! Thanks for the schooling, Melissa...I need it!

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    1. Thanks, Craig. I've been learning a lot this challenge as well. I came across Nilima only recently and was totally blown away. I hardly knew a thing about Bangladesh.

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  2. Well, I honestly keep expecting to find out these women all died tragic deaths while still young. It's odd how relieved I am when I find out some lived long and productive lives. She sounds amazing.

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    1. I know, their lives really do sound like they went out after burning bright and fast. :) It's amazing what they have accomplished and under such extreme conditions, too.

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  3. What a brave pioneer! There's much left to be done worldwide, but the sisterhood wouldn't have made much progress at all without the dedication of women like Ms Ibrahim. Great post!

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    1. Thanks, Kittie! I agree. There is still so much to be done for women everywhere, but thanks to our sisters like Nilima, the strides are being taken.

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  4. dahling, Bangladesh is everything except tiny :) They have 16o million people, which is almost as much as Russia has :) They have so much people that they don't even know where to put them... I'm not joking... Nilima sounds like a nice lady

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    1. Wow! They sure do have a lot of people. I had no idea. And what can I say? I'm from the US so anything smaller than Illinois is tiny. ;)

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  5. I loved reading about Ms. Ibrahim, another inspiring post. I have learned about so many amazing women through your theme already, and we're only up to I! Can't wait to read more of your choices.

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    1. Thank you, Julie. I'm so happy you keep coming ack to read more. It's inspiring to me. :)

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  6. Dot and Ghost - apt title.
    Sad whenever there is a natural disaster, it always seems to happen to Bangladesh.

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    1. Funny you should say that. Alex. I remember growing up and all I had ever heard about Bagladesh was the poverty and the disasters there. Thanks to Nilima's tale, I'm starting to learn more about this nation.

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  7. Bangladesh is an interesting country, it's so small geographically, but it packed with people. And it's constantly at odds with India over water.

    And it's 9 month war with Pakistan wasn't that long ago.

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    1. I did not know that about the population. Dez said something above. It's extraordinary the number of people that live there. And thanks for sharing about the water fight with India. I have a lot to read up on for Bangladesh.

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  8. What a brave woman, she lived through the worst times of Bangladesh - a country that seems to suffer a climate catastrophe every year. Thank God for women like her in the world.

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    1. I agree, Susan. I remember as a kid always hearing about the catastrophes and extreme poverty that seemed to have befallen Bangladesh at every turn. I'm so glad I decided to write about Nilima. I learned a lot about this amazing country.

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  9. Inspiring, especially at a time when so few women were achieving such things.

    Jamie
    Fellow A-Z Buddy
    Doing a monumental blog catch-up
    Mithril Wisdom

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