Fahmida Hussain (maiden name Fahmida Memon) () is a Sindhi author, scholar, linguist and intellectual.

Early life

Fahmida Hussain was born on July 5, 1948, in

Tando Jam Tando Jam () is a town and a municipal committee of Hyderabad District in the Sindh province of Pakistan. It lies to the east of Hyderabad Taluka, about 12 kilometres northeast of the city center. As of 2017, Its population is 71,760. The Sin ...

in district

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. Her father Mohammad Yakoon "Niaz" was also a scholar who had translated poetry of

Hafiz Shirazi (), known by his pen name Hafez ( or 'the keeper'; 1325–1390) or Hafiz, “Ḥāfeẓ” designates someoone who has learned the Qurʾān by heart" also known by his nickname Lisan al-Ghaib ('the tongue of the unseen'), was a Persian lyr ...

from

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Sindhi language Sindhi ( ; or , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by more than 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status, as well as by 1.7 million people in India, where it is a Scheduled languages of India, schedu ...

. Her brother

Sirajul Haq Memon Sirajul Haq Memon (; 24 October 1933 – 2 February 2013) was a Pakistani Sindhi language novelist, journalist, historian, scholar, linguist, story-writer, and advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He was born in Tando Jam town, Hyderabad ...

was also a well-known author and researcher. Her fields of work have been:

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, Woman studies and

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

. Her specialization is in the study of the great classical mystic poet

Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (; 1689/1690 – 21 December 1752), commonly known by the honorifics ''Lakhino Latif'', ''Latif Ghot'', ''Bhittai'', and ''Bhit Jo Shah'', was a Sindhi Sufi mystic and poet from Pakistan, widely considered to be the ...

. Dr Fahmida was the Chairperson of

Sindhi Language Authority The Sindhi Language Authority (abbreviated as SLA; ) is an autonomous institution under the Government of the Pakistani province of Sindh that fosters the Sindhi language and literature, works to develop and promote the language in Sindh, and to ...

from May 2008 to March 2015. Before that she had served as Director of Shah Abdul Latif Chair,

University of Karachi The University of Karachi (; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (which is ...

for ten years. Prior to that she had also served as Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Sindhi in the same university. Dr Fahmida Hussain is a prolific writer who has more than 15 books to her credit along with several research articles on the subjects of

Literary Criticism A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature's ...

with special reference to different aspects of

, poetry of

and gender issues. She started writing short stories and poetry from a very young age and has to her credit one book of short stories as well. She has been writing columns, articles and critiques in various newspapers and magazines from the last 40 years. She is married to Abdul Hussain and they have 3 children.

Education

Fahmida Hussain did her early schooling from Model School in Hyderabad, Sindh, and completed her graduation in 1968 from D. J. Science College in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

. She pursued master's degree in English in 1970 from the Department of English at

University of Sindh The University of Sindh (; ; informally known as Sindh University) is a public research university in Pakistan located in the city of Jamshoro in the Sindh province. It is one of the oldest universities in Pakistan and was certified by ISO in 2 ...

in Hyderabad, and another Masters in Sindhi in 1972 from the same university. In 1990 she completed a Diploma course in

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

language from the Department of General History at the University of Karachi. Further on, in 1992, she successfully completed her doctors thesis in

Sindhi literature Sindhi literature () is the collection of oral and written literature in the Sindhi language in prose (romantic tales and epic stories) and poetry (''ghazals'' and '' nazm''). The Sindhi language of the province of Sindh in Pakistan is consider ...

to obtain a Ph.D. Fahmida Hussain also obtained a

Bachelor of Law A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree (LLB) in 1981.

Career

In 1972, Hussain was appointed

Lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

of English at the Institute of Education at the University of Sindh, a post she held until 1975. From 1978 to 1988 she taught as lecturer of Sindhi at the University of Karachi. In 1988 she was appointed as assistant professor, a post she held until 1995 when she was appointed a full Professor, and later also chairperson of the department in 1997. In the year 1998, Fahmida Hussain accepted the position of Director, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai Chair at the University of Karachi. In May 2008, Dr Hussain was appointed to the coveted and prestigious post of chairperson, Sindhi Language Authority. During all these years starting from 1968 to date, Fahmida Hussain has been writing in Sindhi, Urdu and English on various fronts: as a columnist, editor, researcher, translator, author and linguist. Dr Hussain serves as a member on the boards of a number of important educational institutions in the country. Currently she retired from the post of chairperson of Sindhi language Authority (SLA), Sindh. She has also received a number of awards and recognition for her work and contribution.

Books published

She has written several books on literature, Language engineering and on Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai's poetry. Here is a list of books on credit of her: (2012) Sindhu Likhat-21st Sadi-a Men Thial Tahqique(Translation of research articles on Indus Script), Sindhi Language Authority Hyderabad
(2012) Adyoon Aaoon Anjaan, (Articles on the poetry of Shah Latif)- Culture Department, Govt. of Sindh, Karachi
(2012
Sindhi Boli-Lisani Pahloo
(Essays on Sindhi Language), Sindhi Language Authority, Hyderabad, Sindh
(2011

(Devnagari), Sindhi Language Authority, Hyderabad, Sindh
(2011
Aaiye Sindhi Seekhen
(Let Us Learn Sindhi with CD)- Sindhi Language Authority, Hyderabad, Sindh
(2008) Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai-(Life, Poetry & Philosophy in Urdu), Pakistan Academy of Letters, Islamabad.
(2006

( Sindhi translation of Poetry of Women Poets of the World)- Sindhi Adabi Board, Jamshoro.
(2003) Hik Hawa Kaen Kahanyoon (Collection of short stories), Sachal Academy, Karachi.
(2002

(English Translation) Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai Chair, University of Karachi, Karachi
(2002
Adabi Tanqeed-Fan ain Tareekh
(Literary Criticism-Art and History), Naoon Nyapo Academy, Karachi.
(2000) Bar-e-Sagheer Ji Bolian Jo Lisanianti Jaizo (Sindhi translation of Linguistic Survey of India, Volume VIII, Part 1, by George Grierson), Sindhi Language Authority, Hyderabad.
(1996

(Urdu translation ) Bhit Shah Cultural Committee, Hyderabad.
(1993) Shah Latif Ji Shairi Mein Aurat Jo Roop (Image of Woman in the Poetry of Shah Latif), Bhit Shah Cultural Committee, Hyderabad.
(1990
Pir Hisamuddin Rashidi
A Biography, Sindh Culture & Tourism Department, Karachi. (1983) Hawaun Je Adhar- Travelogue, Agam Publishers, Hyderabad.

Awards

* 2004: President's Pride of Performance * 2004: Pakistan Academy of Letters Award * 2003: Latif Award for Outstanding work in Research & Publications * 2000: Sahyog Foundation Award for best Sindhi Writer of Sindh * 1995: Sindh Graduates Association Award in Research & Writing * 1994: Hijra Award 1414, Pakistan Academy of Letters * 1994: Sindhi Adabi Sangat Award for Best Research on Shah Latif's Poetry & Women Studies

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20080819184811/http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/NationalAwards.aspx * https://web.archive.org/web/20080527221947/http://www.sindhtoday.net/world/328.htm * http://www.uok.edu.pk/faculties/sindhi/index.php * Dawn Review: Profile on Fahmida Hussain (1999

* Shah Latif Chair Publication

* Dawn, June 5, 2008: Dr Fahmida appointed SLA Chairperso

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hussain, Fahmida 1948 births Living people Sindhi people Pakistani scholars Pakistani women writers Sindhi-language writers University of Karachi alumni University of Sindh alumni Academic staff of the University of Karachi Academic staff of the University of Sindh Sindhi women writers Recipients of Latif Award