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Obituary: Professor Braj B. Kachru (1932–2016)

2016; Wiley; Volume: 35; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/weng.12231

1467-971X

S. N. Sridhar,

South Asian Studies and Conflicts

Linguistics, English, and India Studies have lost one of their most charismatic leaders. Professor Braj B. Kachru successfully challenged the orthodoxies of the English Studies establishment on both sides of the Atlantic (the British Council, TESOL) which looked upon Indian English and other non-native varieties as erroneous approximations of standard or native speaker English. Through half a century of meticulous scholarship and energetic advocacy, he demonstrated their systematic structure, natural evolution, and functional vigor, earning them respect as vibrant expressions of distinct cultural identities. In the process, he emerged as the world's leading authority on all aspects of the use of English around the world. Today, world Englishes, the field of study he pioneered and dominated, is a burgeoning discipline with a world-wide following. Kachru was also a most respected and influential scholar on the languages of India, especially, sociolinguistics and multilingualism. He also wrote a grammar of Kashmiri, and a history Kashmiri literature. He worked closely with many Indian writers and intellectuals, such as Raja Rao. Braj Behari Kachru was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, India, on May 15, 1932. He was educated at the University of Allahabad, Deccan College, Pune, and the University of Edinburgh. He was Professor of Linguistics, Jubilee Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Center for Advanced Study Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He died on 29 July, 2016 at Urbana. He was married to Yamuna Kachru, herself an authority on Hindi grammar and English discourse, honored by the President of India, who passed away in 2013. They have a daughter, Amita, a physician in Santa Rosa, California, and son, Shamit, Professor of Physics at Stanford University, and two granddaughters, Sasha and Ila. Professor Kachru authored and edited over 25 books and numerous research papers. He was author of The Indianization of English, The alchemy of English, Asian Englishes: Beyond the canon, A reference grammar of spoken Kashmiri, A history of Kashmiri literature, and co-author of other important works. He edited or co-edited The other tongue, The handbook of world Englishes, World Englishes: Critical concepts, Asian Englishes, Language in South Asia, Dimensions of sociolinguistics in South Asia, Issues in linguistics, cultures, ideologies, and the dictionary, among other titles, which have become standard reference works. He was associate editor of the Oxford companion to the English language and contributor to the Cambridge history of the English language, and other volumes. The collected works of Braj B. Kachru have been published by Bloomsbury, London, in three volumes so far. With Larry E. Smith of the East-West Center, Honolulu he co-founded and edited the journal World Englishes (now in its 36th year) and co-founded the professional organization, International Association of World Englishes (IAWE), serving as its President from 1997–99. In all his vast and influential research, publication, advocacy, and institution-building enterprises, he worked closely with his brilliant wife and colleague, Professor Yamuna Kachru. His other major collaborators were Professor Kingsley Bolton of Singapore, as well as many students, who have made their names as distinguished scholars around the world. Kachru was a gifted administrator. In a distinguished career spanning nearly half a century at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the leading public universities in the U.S., he served as head of three academic units. Under his leadership (1968–79), the Department of Linguistics blossomed into a vibrant, multi-faceted research center, and came to be ranked as the third leading department in the nation. His pluralistic vision ensured that its faculty comprised cutting edge Chomskyan theorists as well as Classical scholars, experts on non-Western languages, Asian and African, and applied linguists. He insisted that linguists should address not only the structural and theoretical aspects of language but also their social and cultural dimensions. He encouraged the study of linguistic theory with its applications to areas, such as, second language teaching, discourse structure, and analysis of literature. He championed the teaching and scientific study of non-Western (Asian and African) languages, and the dynamics of multilingualism. Subsequently, he transformed the Division of English as an International Language from a service unit into an innovative research entity during his time as Director (1985–91). Finally, as Director of the university's prestigious Center for Advanced Study comprising many Nobel laureates, he redefined the center's mission and gave it expanded visibility and influence (1996–2000). Kachru held many influential offices and received many prestigious honors. He directed the Linguistic Institute of the Linguistic Society of America in 1978; he was Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund Visiting Professor at Hong Kong University (1998) and a Visiting Professsor at National University of Singapore; an Honorary Fellow of English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, and President of the American Association of Applied Linguistics (1984) and the International Association for World Englishes (1997–99). His book, The alchemy of English: The spread, functions and models of non-native Englishes, was conferred the English Speaking Union of the Commonwealth prize for the best book on English. He was a sought after keynote speaker at universities and professional conferences all over the U.S, India, and Asia. Professor Kachru was a larger than life figure who left an indelible impression on everyone he met, from students to luminaries of the field. He was an encyclopedic and meticulous scholar, passionate and inspiring teacher and public speaker, a charismatic and witty raconteur with an outrageous sense of humor, a kind and caring mentor, a warm and supporting colleague, a critical but respectful admirer of tradition, an open-minded integrator of scholarship from every culture, Asian, African, European, and American, an imaginative institution builder, and a confident, fearless, visionary intellectual. At Urbana, he and Yamunaji were an institution. They trained generations of well-rounded linguists. They will be missed by his world-wide extended family of scholars and students.