Profile - Muntassir Mamoon

Muntassir Mamoon

General Information

Writer, Historian

Full Name: Muntassir Uddin Khan Mamoon

Affiliation: University of Dhaka

Current Position: Professor

Date of Birth: May 24, 1951

Place of Birth: Bangladesh

Home District: Chandpur

Nationality: Bangladeshi

Profile:

Muntassir Mamoon (born 24 May 1951) is a Bangladeshi writer, historian, scholar, secularist, translator, and professor at University of Dhaka. He researched the past history of Dhaka city. He believes in the political philosophy of Awami League, one of the main political parties of the country. He was awarded Bangla Academy Literary Award and Ekushey Padak by the Government of Bangladesh.

Mamoon was born in Dhaka's Islampur in his maternal grandmother's house. His village home is Gulbahar village of Kachua upazila of Chandpur district. Mamoon spent his childhood and youth in Chatgaon of Chittagong. He studied at Chittagong Port Trust Primary and High School and Chittagong College. In 1968, he was admitted to the history department of Dhaka University. He received his master's degree in 1972 and his PhD degree in 1983 from the same department. He was the first to receive a PhD from the Department of History after independence.

Mamoon joined Dainik Bangla-Bichitra as a journalist while studying at the university. In 1974, he joined the history department of Dhaka University as a lecturer. He was promoted to the rank of professor on 18 February 1991. Besides this, he has researched the past history of Dhaka city. He also served as the honorary founding director of 'Muktijudda Bangabandhu and Bangladesh Research Institute' of National University from 1999-2002.

Mamoon engaged in writing since his youth, he won the President's Award in 1963 as the best children's writer in Bengali language in Pakistan. After joining the university, he wrote many books on translation, criticism and various subjects. The subject of his writing and research is East Bengal or Bangladesh and the city of Dhaka in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Mamoon went on retirement from university on 30 June 2016. The Dhaka University Syndicate meeting on 16 August 2017 appointed him as Bangabandhu Chair for the next one year. After successfully completing this duty, he again joined the Bangabandhu Chair of Chittagong University on March 15, 2021. He will hold the post for two years from the date of joining.

Mamoon was the Secretary in the first election of DUCSU held in independent Bangladesh. At the same time he was the president of Dhaka University Cultural Council. DUCSU's mouthpiece "Chatrabarta" was first published under his editorship. He was the founding member of Bangladesh Writers Union and the first joint convener and joint secretary respectively. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum and the Board of Directors of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and National Archives. He was one of the founders of Dhaka City Museum. He established the Center for Dhaka Studies (Dhaka Charcha Kendra) to study the history of Dhaka. 12 research books on Dhaka have been published from this center. He was a founder and active member of Ghatak Dalal Nirmul Committee of 1971.

The number of books published by Mamoon is 220. History is his main field of work, though he wanders in all fields of Bengali literature.

Awards: