Dr. Golam Rabbani
Biographical Statement
Dr. Golam Rabbani is a transnational performer-scholar, educator, and amateur writer and has been invested in university teaching and research for more than fourteen years. He specializes in Baul literature, music, and cultural industries in Bangladesh and is a grantee of the SSHRC Doctoral Award, Erasmus Mundus Action II Scholarship, and several other research grants. He is also trained in Bengali folk and Indian classical music and performed at numerous academic and public events in South Asia and North America. Before joining the School of Creative Industries at Toronto Met, he taught at Dan School of Drama and Music, Queen’s University, and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and School of Studies in Arts and Culture, Carleton University.
Along with publishing journal articles and presenting at conferences, Dr. Rabbani is currently working on two book projects and developing creative research and musical initiatives that focus on immigrant and newcomer identities in Canada. As a community-based researcher, he examines popular culture industries and investigates the spirituality, literature and music of Bauls, the heterogeneous groups of itinerant minstrels/philosophers in Bangladesh. He was involved in experiential learning with Baul communities since his childhood. He casually works as a diversity and inclusion coach for academic and non-academic organizations helping them to implement EDII issues at workplaces. Dr. Rabbani is a first-generation immigrant in Canada and has taught and continued research in universities in Dhaka, Bangladesh, for several years. He also collaborated with various creative industries in both Bangladesh and Canada.
| Education | Degree |
|---|---|
| Cultural Studies, Queen’s University (Kingston, CA) |
Ph.D |
| Literature and Linguistics: English, University of Antwerp (Antwerp, BE) | MA |
| English, Jahangirnagar University (Dhaka, BD) | MA |
| English, Jahangirnagar University (Dhaka, BD) | BA (Hons) |
Dr. Rabbani has been teaching and continuing research at universities for more than fourteen years and performing as a singer since his childhood. He teaches interdisciplinary courses on culture and creative industries, creative process and management, music, literature, spirituality, and popular culture.
He taught as an Adjunct Faculty and Teaching Fellow at Dan School of Drama and Music, Queen’s University, and as a Contract Instructor at Carleton University, Canada. As an Assistant Professor, he also taught courses on English literature, cultural theory, film, media, and English Language Skills at Jahangirnagar University (Bangladesh), East West University (Bangladesh), and Eastern University (Bangladesh). With the funding of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship Award, he completed his PhD in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University in 2021. As a grantee of Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, he studied literature, linguistics, and cultural theories for two years and received his second MA in Literature and Linguistics: English (with Distinction) from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2015. He has a BA Honors and MA in English from Jahangirnagar University.
Some of his recently published research articles and upcoming book chapters concentrate on eco-centrism and heterogeneity in Baul music and literature, intersectionality and Darwinism in novels, pedophilia, and patriarchy in Bangladeshi film, voyeurism in media, hetero-imperialism in films, alienation and segregation in postcolonial texts, and naturalism and expressionism in plays. He has presented research papers at many international conferences in North America, Europe, and South Asia. His recent conference papers and creative projects investigate the issues of immigrant identities in newcomers in Canada, affect and commodification in Baul and popular culture in Bangladesh, and ecocritical and Cognitive approaches to Bangladeshi folk literature (Baul Literature) and culture.
His doctoral research at Queen’s focused on the study of ethnomusicology examining the intersections of Baul literature and music with contemporary consumer culture and creative industries in Bangladesh. He was trained in Bangladeshi folk music and Indian classical music at Chhayanaut in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Creative and Culture Industries
Cultural Studies
Media and Representation
Western and non-Western Literature and Cultural Texts
Music and Spirituality
Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies
Ethnomusicology
South Asia and Popular Culture
South Asian Studies
Spiritual Lyrics and Folk Industries: From Bhakti Poetry to Bauls. Routledge Handbook of Bangladeshi Literary Culture. London: Routledge (forthcoming in 2023)
Ecocentrism and Bauls: Lalon and Radharaman’s Meditative Activism (opens in new window) . Bangladesh Environmental Humanities. New York: Lexington. 2022
Heterogeneity and Baul Spirituality: The Songs of Baul Taskir Ali in Bangladesh (external link, opens in new window) . Comparative Media Arts Journal 6. Simon Fraser University. 2019
Discrimination in ‘the city’: Race, Class, and Gender in Toni Morrison’s Jazz (opens in new window) . Advances in Language and Literary Studies, Volume 10, Issue 05, 2019.
'In the Light of What We Know': A Novel of Its Time (book review). Crossings: ULAB Journal of English Studies. Volume 6. 2015. 263-265. ISSN 2071-1107
Darwin, Cognition and Literary Evocations of the Mind: The Case of Requiem for a Nun. Crossings ULAB Journal of English Studies. Volume 3 and 4. 2014. 21-28. ISSN 2071-1107.
Media and Peeping Tom Culture: Violating Familial Privacy and Communal Responsibility in the Evolution of Voyeurism (external link, opens in new window) . Journalism and Mass Communication: David Publishing Company. Volume 3, Number 5, May 2013. 304-312. ISSN 2160-6579.
Gender Hegemony in Feminist Film: ‘Woman-hero’ and Identity Politics in Rudaali. Harvest. Jahangirnagar Studies in Language and Literature. Volume 27, 2011-12. ISSN 1729-8326.
Decentering the Hegemonic ‘Centre’: ‘Palabras Liminares’ and Ruben Dario’s Poetic Identity. Harvest. Jahangirnagar Studies in Language and Literature. Volume 26, 2010-11. ISSN 1729-8326.
Reality TV or Voyeur TV: Television Shows Instigating Voyeurism. Nrvijnana Patrika. Journal of Anthropology: Jahangirnagar University. Volume 16, 2011. ISSN 1680-0621
The Quest for Wording the Word: Communication Crisis and Alienation of Language in Wole Soyinka’s The Road. Harvest. Jahangirnagar Studies in Language and Literature. Volume 25, 2009-10. ISSN 1729-8326.
Stage within Stage: Naturalism and Spatial Dimensions in August Strindberg’s Miss Julie. Harvest. Jahangirnagar Studies in Language and Literature. Volume 24, 2008-09. ISSN 1729-8326.
(PDF file) Staging the Stage: The Expressionist Manifestation of Spatial Discourse and Colour in August Strindberg’s Ett Dromspel (A Dream Play). (opens in new window) Eastern University Journal. Volume 01, No: 02, July 2009. ISSN 1998-7889
- 2019/9-2021/8 SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship Award, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada
- 2016/9 - 2019/8 Queen’s Graduate Award, Queen's University at Kingston
- 2016/9 - 2018/8 Principal’s International Doctoral Award, Queen's University at Kingston
- 2016/9 - 2018/8 International Tuition Award, Queen's University at Kingston
- 2017/2 – Received Queen’s University Nominations for Vanier and Trudeau Scholarships
- 2015/7 Leadership Award on Ethnic Studies, Economic Relations Department, Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh
- 2012/2 Leadership Award in Folklore Studies, Bangladesh Folklore Society, Dhaka
- 2013/9 - 2015/8 Erasmus Mundus Scholarship in 2013-14 and 2014-15 (to study in Belgium for two years), 24,000 (Euro), European Commission and Lund University
- 2010/2 PKSF (Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation) Best Volunteer Award, Palli Karma Shahayak Foundation (PKSF), Bangladesh