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{{Short description|British political theorist (born 1935)}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Lord Parekh
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FBA|FAcSS|FRSA}}
| image = Official portrait of Lord Parekh crop 2.jpg
| caption = Official portrait, 2020
| order =
| office1 = [[Member of the House of Lords]]
| status1 = [[Lord Temporal]]
| termlabel1 = [[Life peer]]age
| term_start1 = 10 May 2000
| term_end1 =

| birth_name = Bhikhu Chhotalal Parekh
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1935|1|4}}
| birth_place = Amalsad, [[Gujarat]], India
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| citizenship = United Kingdom
| nationality =
| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| spouse =
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| relations =
| children = [[Anant Parekh]]
| parents = 
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| residence =
| education =
| alma_mater =
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| awards =

| module =
{{Infobox academic | child = yes
| education =
| alma_mater = [[University of Bombay]] <br /> [[London School of Economics]]
| thesis_title =
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| discipline = [[Political science]]
| sub_discipline = {{hlist|[[Political history]]|[[political philosophy]]|[[Marxism]]|[[multiculturalism]]}}
| workplaces = {{plain list|
* [[London School of Economics]]
* [[University of Glasgow]]
* [[University of Hull]]
* [[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]]
* [[University of Westminster]] }}
| doctoral_students = 
| notable_students = 
| main_interests =
| notable_works = ''[[Marx's Theory of Ideology]]'' (1982) <br /> ''[[Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory]]'' (2002)
| notable_ideas =
| influenced =
}}
}}
'''Bhikhu Chhotalal Parekh''' ('''Baron Parekh'''; born 4 January 1935)<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who | author=Anon| title=Parekh | id = U30023 | year = 2003 | edition = online [[Oxford University Press]]|location=Oxford|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U30023}}</ref> is a British [[political theorist]], academic, and [[life peer]]. He is a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] member of the [[House of Lords]]. He was Professor of Political Theory at the [[University of Hull]] from 1982 to 2001, and Professor of [[Political Philosophy]] at the [[University of Westminster]] from 2001 to 2009. He served as president of the [[Academy of Social Sciences]] from 2003 to 2008.<ref name=whoswho/>

==Early life and education==
Parekh was born in the village of Amalsad in the province of [[Gujarat]], India;<ref name="bba">[http://www.bombaybar.com/lectures/justice_kt_desai_memorial_lecture_2009_lord_bhikhu_parekh.php Biography] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613173042/http://www.bombaybar.com/lectures/justice_kt_desai_memorial_lecture_2009_lord_bhikhu_parekh.php |date=13 June 2010 }} as the speaker for the Justice KT Desai Memorial Lecture 2009, Bombay Bar Association. Retrieved 25 March 2010.</ref> his father was a goldsmith with a basic education.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=159231&sectioncode=26|title=A lord with a rainbow notion|journal=[[Times Higher Education]]|date=13 October 2000}}.</ref> Parekh was admitted to the [[University of Bombay]] at the age of 15,<ref name="bba"/> and earned a bachelor's degree there in 1954 and a Master's in 1956. He began his graduate studies at the [[London School of Economics]] in 1959, and received his PhD in 1966.<ref name="essex"/>

==Career==
He taught at the [[London School of Economics]] and at the [[University of Glasgow]] before finding a long-term position at the [[University of Hull]].<ref name="essex"/> Between 1981 and 1984 he was Vice-Chancellor at the [[Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda]] in India.<ref name="bba"/><ref name="essex"/> He also held the Centennial Professorship in the Centre for the Study of Global Governance at the London School of Economics<ref name="bba"/> and a professorship of political philosophy at the [[University of Westminster]].<ref>[http://www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/humanities/politics-and-international-relations/people People – University of Westminster Department of Politics and International Relations] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101201225051/http://www.westminster.ac.uk/schools/humanities/politics-and-international-relations/people |date=1 December 2010 }}. Retrieved 25 March 2010.</ref> In 2002, he served as president of the [[Academy of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences]].<ref name="essex"/>

Parekh has also served on the [[Commission for Racial Equality]] (including a spell as vice-chairman) and has held membership of a number of bodies concerned with issues of racial equality and multiculturalism – most notably as Chairman of the [[Runnymede Trust|Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain]] from 1998 to 2000. The report of this body (often referred to as the "Parekh Report") has been the basis for much of the debate on multiculturalism in the UK in the early 21st century.

===House of Lords===
He was appointed a [[life peer]] on 10 May 2000 as '''Baron Parekh''', of [[Kingston upon Hull]] in the [[East Riding of Yorkshire]].<ref name="essex"/><ref>{{London Gazette |issue=55847 |date=15 May 2000 |page=5315}}</ref>

Parekh sits in the Lords as a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] peer. From July 2001 to December 2003, he was a member of the [[Joint Committee on Human Rights]].<ref name="bio HoL">{{cite web |title=Lord Parekh |url=https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-parekh/2545 |website=UK Parliament |access-date=29 May 2019 |language=en}}</ref>

===Publications===
*{{cite book
| title = Bentham's Political Thought
| publisher = Croom Helm
| year = 1973
| isbn = 0-85664-037-9}}
*{{cite book
| title = [[Marx's Theory of Ideology]]
| publisher = Johns Hopkins Univ Pr
| year = 1982
| isbn = 0-8018-2771-X
| page = 256}}
*{{cite book
| title = Colonialism, Tradition and Reform: An Analysis of Gandhi's Political Discourse
| publisher = Sage
| year = 1989
| isbn = 0-8039-9605-5
| url-access = registration
| url = https://archive.org/details/colonialismtradi0000pare
}}
*{{cite book
| title = Gandhi's Political Philosophy. A critical examination
| publisher = Macmillan
| year = 1989
| isbn = 0-333-54765-9
| page = 246}}
*{{cite book
| title = The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain: Report of the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain
| publisher = Profile Books
| year = 2000
| isbn = 1-86197-227-X}}
*{{cite book
| title = Gandhi: A Very Short Introduction
| publisher = Oxford Paperbacks
| year = 2001
| isbn = 978-0-19-285457-5}}
*{{cite book|title=[[Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory]]|publisher=Harvard UP|year=2002|isbn=0-674-00995-9}}
*{{cite book
| title = European Liberalism and 'the Muslim Question': Does Intercultural Dialogue Make Sense? (ISIM Papers)
| publisher = Amsterdam University Press
| year = 2008
| isbn = 9789053560877}}
*{{cite book
| title = A New Politics of Identity: Political Principles for an Interdependent World
| publisher = Palgrave Macmillan
| year = 2008
| isbn = 978-1-4039-0647-2}}
* He also wrote an account of "The Rushdie Affair and the British Press; Some Salutary Lessons" for the Commission for Racial Equality in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Google Scholar|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=The%20Rushdie%20Affair%20and%20the%20British%20Press:%20Some%20Salutary%20Lessons&author=B.%20Parekh&publication_year=1990|access-date=2020-06-25|website=scholar.google.com}}</ref>
*''Colour, Culture and Consciousness: Immigrant Intellectuals in Britain'', Allen & Unwin, 1974, {{ISBN|0-04-301067-9}}

===Awards and honours===
Parekh was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts]] (FRSA) in 1988, and a [[Fellow of the Academy of Learned Societies in the Social Sciences]] (FAcSS) in 1999.<ref name="essex"/> In 2003, he was elected a [[Fellow of the British Academy]] (FBA), the United Kingdom's [[national academy]] for the humanities and social sciences.<ref name="FBA">{{cite web |title=Professor Lord (bhikhu) Parekh |url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/fellows/bhikhu-parekh-FBA |website=The British Academy |access-date=29 May 2019 |language=en}}</ref><ref>[http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/elections/2003/parekh_b.cfm Elections to the Fellowship > 2003 > Professor Lord (Bhikhu) Parekh] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606070922/http://www.britac.ac.uk/fellowship/elections/2003/parekh_b.cfm |date=6 June 2011 }}. Retrieved 25 March 2010.</ref>

He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the [[University of Essex]] in 2003.<ref name="essex">[http://www.essex.ac.uk/honorary_graduates/or/2003/bhikhu-parekh-oration.aspx Honorary Graduates: Orations and responses – Lord Parekh of Kingston upon Hull], [[University of Essex]], 9 July 2003. Retrieved 25 March 2010.</ref> In 2008, he was awarded an Honorary DUniv From The University of Hull. On 11 July 2011, Parekh was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Social Sciences (DSoc Sci) from [[Nottingham Trent University]]. On 20 July 2011, Parekh was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from [[Edge Hill University]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2011/07/lord-parekh-receives-honorary-award/| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140222140109/http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2011/07/lord-parekh-receives-honorary-award/| archive-date = 2014-02-22| title = Lord Parekh receives honorary award - News}} </ref> He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Bristol in July 2022.

He was awarded the [[Padma Bhushan]] by the [[Government of India]] in 2007.<ref name="bba"/>

==Personal life==
Parekh has three sons,<ref name=whoswho/> including [[Anant Parekh]], they were all awarded [[scholarship]]s to study at the [[University of Oxford]].<ref name=hull>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/first-hull-prestigious-royal-society-3358877|title=Man becomes first from Hull to be inducted into prestigious group|first=Barnabas|last=Stephenson|date=September 25, 2019|website=hulldailymail.co.uk|publisher=[[Hull Daily Mail]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101071655/https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/first-hull-prestigious-royal-society-3358877|archive-date=2019-11-01}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
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{{s-prec|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Baron Mitchell|The Lord Mitchell]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom|Gentlemen]]'''<br />''Baron Parekh'' '''}}
{{s-fol|after=[[Sebastian Coe|The Lord Coe]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{PadmaBhushanAwardRecipients 2000–09}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parekh, Bhikhu Parekh, Baron}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:Academics of the London School of Economics]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Hull]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of Westminster]]
[[Category:British political philosophers]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to England]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Vadodara]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]
[[Category:British people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:British people of Gujarati descent]]
[[Category:Commissioners for Racial Equality]]

Bhikhu Parekh - Revision history

Iautomationtraining Hub at 05:51, 5 March 2026