K.A.M. Saaduddin: Architect and activist of anti-imperialist sociology and social movements in Bangladesh

K.A.M. Saaduddin (1936–2026) was a prominent Bangladeshi sociologist renowned for his anti-imperialist and anti-establishment perspective in the developmental study of Bangladeshi society through the analysis of poverty, corruption, and foreign aid. His foundational works—Development and Sociology: A Theoretical Analysis (2024), Sociology and Development: Bangladesh Perspectives (1991), The Underdeveloped World: A New Perspective (1987), and Unnayan Tatta and Nabbya-Marxbad (Development Theory and Neo-Marxism) (1985)—provide a critical, nuanced understanding of how colonialism and neo-colonialism operate in postcolonial societies like Bangladesh and build for them an iron cage of dependency and underdevelopment. His other writings also focus on how internal and external causes have led to the underdevelopment of Bangladesh. Notable among them are: Poverty, Gender and Development (2003), Bangladesh: Rural Poverty and Foreign Aid (1988), Corruption and Underdevelopment (1997), and Social-Psychological Dimension of Underdevelopment (1997).

Professor Saaduddin’s academic background included an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Dhaka in 1958 and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966 as a UNESCO Fellow. He was a PhD research fellow in Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania from 1966 to 1969.

Professor Saaduddin began his teaching career in 1960 in the Department of Sociology at the University of Dhaka as a Teaching Fellow and became a Lecturer in 1962. From 1966 to 1969, he taught at Pennsylvania Military College and Penn Morton University. Upon his return from the University of Pennsylvania in 1969, he rejoined the Department of Sociology as an Assistant Professor, later being promoted to Associate Professor in 1972 and Professor in 1987. He served as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of World Religions and Culture from 2002 onwards. While serving as an Adjunct Professor, he was also a Supernumerary Professor of Sociology from 2008 to 2013 and later an Honorary Professor.

Professor Saaduddin’s institutional leadership was remarkable. He was the Central General Secretary of the Bangladesh Students' Union from 1958 to 1962. His leadership roles centred around the University of Dhaka: Warden of International Hall from 1972 to 1974; Chairman of the Department of Sociology in 1972–73 and 1980–84; elected Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences in 1977–79 and 1981–83; President of both the Dhaka University Teachers' Association and the University Teachers' Federation in 1983–84 and 1986–87; Member of the Academic Council of the University of Dhaka from 1977 to 2002; and Senate Member of the University of Dhaka from 1983 to 1990.

Recovered from the wreckage of the 1971 Liberation War, a diary kept by Major General Rao Farman Ali revealed that Professor Saaduddin’s name was among those of the intellectuals handpicked for execution. He was arrested by the Pakistan Army in August 1971. Many times, he recounted this harrowing incident to us. Having narrowly escaped this dark chapter, he lived to play a vital role in shaping the intellectual bedrock of a newly independent Bangladesh and in reshaping Bangladeshi sociology as an anti-imperialist discipline.

Professor Saaduddin was also an extraordinary academic-activist. As a primary organiser of the Liberation War, he was a leading voice for anti-imperialism, democracy, secularism, and progressive anti-autocratic movements. His vital role in grassroots activism—such as the Palestine solidarity movement—ensures that his legacy as a champion of progressive social and political causes will endure. Such experiences significantly shaped his pedagogy, subsequently transforming the UNESCO-founded, American-influenced, and later NGO-ised Department of Sociology into one that embraced a counter-hegemonic, anti-imperialist epistemology.

In the autumn of 1969, in Room 1034 of the Arts Building at the University of Dhaka, I first met Professor K. A. M. Saaduddin—a tall, handsome, 33-year-old man dressed in Western clothes. He had just returned from the University of Pennsylvania and spoke with an American accent while lecturing us in our master's class on the Sociology of Development. Across Battala, the Hemanta season began with early-morning mists, falling leaves, and a melancholic beauty—a stark contrast to the thunderous political slogans of the Sarbadaliya Chhatra Sangram Parishad’s 11-Point Programme and the sharp crack of tear gas fired by the Police and the East Pakistan Rifles to disperse students holding protest meetings in front of the Arts Building during the winter and spring. The fall of President Ayub Khan in March restored a calm academic atmosphere to the campus. Finally, the air was no longer thick with the smell of tear gas as we began our journey through Professor Saaduddin’s master's class.

Our classes with Professor Saaduddin were different in many respects. First of all, his lectures were more contemporary, analytical and structured than those of other professors. Secondly, his theoretical orientation was critical, challenging the well-established traditional and modernist views of development. Thirdly, his perspective was patriotic (pro-Bangali and anti-Pakistani) and revolutionary (anti-establishment and anti-imperialist). This was due to his left-wing political background as a student leader. Fourthly, he was punctual and methodical. Finally, he was a disciplinarian and appeared authoritarian to the majority of students. His lectures, combined with his active participation in the People’s Movement, had a significant impact in resisting fundamentalism, autocracy and imperialism among both students and civil society.

This was also reflected when the Bangladesh Sociology Association held its second National Meeting in Chittagong on 8–9 November 1985. The Association was split into two factions: the Bangladesh Sociology Association, headed by Professor Afsaruddin, and the Bangladesh Sociological Association, headed by Professor Saaduddin. The majority of the faculty members of Chittagong University sided with Professor Afsaruddin, whereas, with the exception of a few, almost all faculty members of the University of Dhaka and the University of Rajshahi supported Professor Saaduddin. Thus, the First Annual Conference of the Bangladesh Sociological Association, in which I participated, was held at Rajshahi University on 24–25 July 1986. Gradually, the differences between the two factions were informally labelled as pro-liberation (Saaduddin) and anti-liberation (Afsaruddin) forces. Professor Saaduddin mobilised all progressive elements within the Association. Not only that, he was also the catalyst in appointing the most meritorious and pro-liberation progressive elements to teaching positions at various universities in Bangladesh.

When I joined the Department of Sociology in 1973 during Professor Saaduddin’s chairmanship, a catastrophe occurred centring on Professor Borhan Uddin Khan Jahangir. He had been recruited to Sociology from Political Science. Posters appeared on the corridor walls demanding his return to Political Science, followed by pistol shots being fired around his office. Professor Saaduddin called an emergency meeting to hold a vote among the sociology faculty regarding the issue. I was left completely stunned when every single one of my colleagues voted against Professor B. K. Jahangir. I later learned that Professor Saaduddin had also stepped down as Chairman. The entire ordeal was deeply traumatic and served as my harsh introduction to the realities of post-independence Dhaka University politics. A few months after the incident, while eating biryani at Eskaton's Ladies Club during Saad Sir's wedding, I found myself reflecting on how easily the department could devolve into a Hobbesian Leviathan without him. I have known Professor Saaduddin for 57 years (1969–2026), both as a teacher and a colleague, and as a witness to his struggle against fascism, authoritarianism, fundamentalism and neo-colonialism. He was not a conventional academic whose focus was limited to teaching, research and publication. Instead, he stemmed from the Oriental prophetic tradition of the guru. He was an intellectual for the subaltern, keen on producing new ideas to change society for the benefit of the oppressed. He also practised praxis, turning ideas into action.

It is sad to observe that Bangladeshi sociology has deviated from Professor Saaduddin’s legacy and become a prisoner of the Trojan horse of imperialism and neoliberalism. Sociological knowledge has become commodified, as Jean-François Lyotard observed. Universities no longer pursue knowledge for truth and human emancipation; on the contrary, the principle of performativity reigns supreme.

Recovered from the wreckage of the 1971 Liberation War, a diary kept by Major General Rao Farman Ali revealed that Professor Saaduddin’s name was among those of the intellectuals handpicked for execution. He was arrested by the Pakistan Army in August 1971. Many times, he recounted this harrowing incident to us. Having narrowly escaped this dark chapter, he lived to play a vital role in shaping the intellectual bedrock of a newly independent Bangladesh and in reshaping Bangladeshi sociology as an anti-imperialist discipline.

In his later life, Professor Saaduddin developed an interest in the sociology of religion while teaching in the Department of World Religions and Culture. He examined the interplay of religion and language in Bangladeshi politics and asserted that Bangladesh practised a new secularism, being simultaneously secular and religious. Much like that of George Holyoake, his secularism was a humanist secularism, akin to modern definitions of humanism but broader than mere atheism.

It is sad to observe that Bangladeshi sociology has deviated from Professor Saaduddin’s legacy and become a prisoner of the Trojan horse of imperialism and neoliberalism. Sociological knowledge has become commodified, as Jean-François Lyotard observed. Universities no longer pursue knowledge for truth and human emancipation; on the contrary, the principle of performativity reigns supreme. To arrest the transformation of our universities into higher-grade madrasas, and to rejuvenate the sociological imagination and enlightenment, it is of the utmost importance that Professor Saaduddin’s legacy be restored.

A.I. Mahbub Uddin Ahmed is a professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Dhaka.

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