ScarlettFlannaga at 06:13, 16 March 2026

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{{Short description|Bengali-Canadian author and sociologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}}

{{Use Indian English|date=July 2018}}

{{Infobox person
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| name = Himani Bannerji
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| birth_date = 1942
| birth_place = British India
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| alma_mater = [[Visva-Bharati University]], B.A. <br> [[Jadavpur University]], M.A. <br> [[University of Toronto]], M.A. <br> [[University of Toronto]], Ph.D.
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'''Himani Bannerji''' (born 1942) is a [[Indian Canadians|Bengali-Canadian]] author and [[Sociology|sociologist]].<ref name="TMU" /><ref name="CSPI">{{Cite web|title=Himani Bannerji|url=https://www.canadianscholars.ca/authors/himani-bannerji|access-date=25 November 2020|website=Canadian Scholars|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Mandal |first=Somdatta |date=2017-06-15 |title=An Interview with Himani Bannerji |url=https://journals.iium.edu.my/asiatic/index.php/ajell/article/view/970 |journal=Asiatic: IIUM Journal of English Language and Literature |volume=11 |issue=1 |doi=10.31436/asiatic.v11i1.970 |issn=1985-3106|doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Early life and education==
Bannerji was born in what is now [[Bangladesh]], then a part of [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British India]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Kain |first=Geoffrey |url=https://archive.org/details/asianamericannov0000unse/page/8/mode/2up |title=Asian American novelists: a bio-bibliographical critical sourcebook |date=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Press |others= |isbn=978-0-313-30911-3 |editor-last=Nelson |editor-first=Emmanuel S. |pages=8-12 |chapter=Himani Bannerji}}</ref><ref name="TMU" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kandiuk |first=Mary |url=http://archive.org/details/caribbeansouthas0000kand |title=Caribbean and South Asian writers in Canada: a bibliography of their works and of English-language criticism |date=2007 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-5883-1}}</ref> She studied in [[Dhaka]] then in [[Kolkata]].<ref name="TMU" /><ref name=":1" /> She received her B.A. and M.A. in English from [[Visva-Bharati University]] and [[Jadavpur University]] respectively, becoming a lecturer at the latter from 1965 to 1969.<ref name=":1" /> She then received her M.A. from the [[University of Toronto]] and taught at [[Victoria College, Toronto|Victoria College]] and [[York University|Atkinson College]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> She started work on a PhD in sociology in 1980 and it was completed in 1988 with the title: ''The Politics of Representation: A Study of Class and Class Struggle in the Political Theatre of West Bengal''.<ref name="TMU">{{Cite web|title=Himani Bannerji|url=https://library.torontomu.ca/asianheritage/authors/bannerji_himani/|access-date=25 November 2020|language=en-US|archive-date=19 January 2026|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260119205930/https://library.torontomu.ca/asianheritage/authors/bannerji_himani/|url-status=live|website=Toronto Metropolitan University}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

==Career==
She is a Senior Scholar in the Department of Sociology<ref>{{Cite web |title=Himani Bannerji |url=https://www.yorku.ca/research/ycar/associate/himani-bannerji/ |access-date=2026-03-06 |website=York Centre for Asian Research |language=en-CA}}</ref> and has taught in the Graduate Program in Social and Political Thought and the Graduate Program in Women's Studies at [[York University]] in Canada.<ref name=":0" />

Bannerji works in the areas of [[Marxist philosophy|Marxist]], [[Feminist theory|feminist]], and [[Anti-racism|anti-racist]] theory.<ref name="CSPI" /> She is especially focused on reading [[Colonialism|colonial]] discourse through [[Karl Marx]]'s concept of ideology and putting together a reflexive analysis of gender, race and class.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bannerji |first=Himani |date=2005 |title=Building from Marx: Reflections on Class and Race |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29768341 |journal=Social Justice |volume=32 |issue=4 (102) |pages=144–160 |issn=1043-1578}}</ref> Bannerji also lectures about the [[gaze]] and the [[other (philosophy)|othering]] and silencing of women who are marginalized.<ref name=":0" />

She was awarded the 2005 Rabindra Memorial Prize for her book ''Inventing Subjects: Studies in Hegemony, Patriarchy and Colonialism.''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005-09-26 |title=York professor receives prestigious Indian literary prize |url=https://www.yorku.ca/yfile/2005/09/26/york-professor-receives-prestigious-indian-literary-prize/ |access-date=2026-03-06 |website=YFile |language=en-CA}}</ref>

She has also written poetry and children's fiction.<ref name="TMU" /> Two of her articles have been published in ''Rungh'' magazine.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Bannerji |first=Himani |date=1998 |title=A Letter from the Gulf |url=https://digital.lib.sfu.ca/rungh-south-asian-quarterly-culture-comment-and-criticism-volume-4-number-1-2 |magazine=Rungh |page=35 |volume=4 |issue=1/2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Bannerji |first=Himani |date=1993 |title=Reorganizing Orientalist Constructions |url=https://rungh.org/reorganizing-orientalist-constructions/ |magazine=Rungh |volume=6 |issue=4}}</ref>

==Bibliography==

=== Non-fiction ===
*{{Cite book |title=The ideological condition: selected essays on history, race and gender |date=2020 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-44161-3 |location=Leiden}}
*{{Cite book |title=Demography and democracy: essays on nationalism, gender and ideology |date=2011 |publisher=Canadian Scholars' Press |isbn=978-1-55130-389-5 |location=Toronto}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bannerji |first=Himani |title=Inventing subjects: studies in hegemony, patriarchy, and colonialism |date=2001 |publisher=Tulika |isbn=978-81-85229-47-8 |location=New Delhi}}</ref>
*{{Cite book |title=Inventing subjects: studies in hegemony, patriarchy, and colonialism |date=2001 |publisher=Tulika |isbn=978-81-85229-47-8 |location=New Delhi}}
*{{Cite book |title=The dark side of the nation: essays on multiculturalism, nationalism and gender |date=2009 |publisher=Canadian Scholars' Press |isbn=978-1-55130-172-3 |location=Toronto}}
*{{Cite book |title=The writing on the wall: essays on culture and politics |date=1993 |publisher=TSAR |isbn=978-0-920661-30-7 |location=Toronto}}
*{{Cite book |title=Thinking through: essays on feminism, Marxism and anti-racism |date=1995 |publisher=Women's Press |isbn=978-0-88961-208-2 |location=Toronto}}
*{{Cite book |url= |title=The mirror of class: essays on Bengali theatre |date=1998 |publisher=Papyrus |location=Calcutta}}

===Fiction===
* {{Cite book |title=Coloured pictures |date=1991 |publisher=Sister Vision Press |isbn=978-0-920813-86-7 |location=Toronto}}
* "Her mother's ashes" in {{Cite book |title=Her mother's ashes and other stories by South Asian women in Canada and the United States |date=1994 |publisher=TSAR |isbn=978-0-920661-40-6 |editor-last=Aziz |editor-first=Nurjehan |edition= |location=Toronto}}

===Poetry===
*{{Cite book |title=Doing time: poems |date=1986 |publisher=Sister Vision |isbn=978-0920813010 |location=Toronto}}
*{{Cite book |title=A separate sky |date=1982 |publisher=Domestic Bliss |location=Toronto}} Includes her English translation of Bengali poems by Subhas Mukhapadhyay, Manbendra Bandyopadhyay, and Shamshur Rahman.

===As co-author===

*{{Cite book |title=Of Property and Propriety: The Role of Gender and Class in Imperialism and Nationalism |date=2001 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-1-4426-7800-2 |editor-last=Bannerji |editor-first=Himani |editor-last2=Mojab |editor-first2=Shahrzad |editor-last3=Whitehead |editor-first3=Judith}}

=== As editor ===
*{{Cite book |title=Unsettling relations: the university as a site of feminist struggles |date=1992 |publisher=South End Press |isbn=978-0-89608-452-0 |edition= |location=Boston}}
*{{Cite book |title=Returning the gaze: essays on racism, feminism, and politics |date=1993 |publisher=Sister Vision |isbn=978-0-920813-55-3 |location=Toronto}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.yorku.ca/research/ycar/associate/himani-bannerji/ York faculty profile]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannerji, Himani}}
[[Category:1942 births]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:21st-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:Bengali writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Women writers from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Canadian feminist writers]]
[[Category:Canadian non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Bengali descent]]
[[Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Canadian writers of Asian descent]]
[[Category:Canadian Hindus]]
[[Category:Jadavpur University alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:University of Toronto alumni]]
[[Category:Visva-Bharati University alumni]]
[[Category:Academic staff of York University]]
[[Category:Canadian Marxist writers]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Bengali philosophers]]
[[Category:Canadian women philosophers]]
[[Category:Marxist feminists]]
[[Category:Canadian sociologists]]
[[Category:Canadian women sociologists]]

Himani Bannerji - Revision history

ScarlettFlannaga at 06:13, 16 March 2026