The Tradition of Essay and Creative Criticality in the History of Western Scholarship: Implications for Advancing Research in Bangladesh

In order to create a culture of research in the English academia of Bangladesh, first it is crucial to formalize essay-writing and acknowledge it academically as a valid and established means of scholarly expressions and meaningful insights. Due to the publish or perish credo, only research papers and PhD theses are prioritized, to such an extent that other valuable forms of writing—either academic, creative or experimental—are marginalized. Essays are no exception. The relatively modern-historical practice of adopting the methodologies necessary for the sciences impairs the intrinsic qualitative nature of the arts and humanities. The article analyses that in detail, and since this form of writing is a tested method of creating knowledge, it shows how it is detrimental when we exclude essay-writing from scholarly recognition. Due to the fact that conventional research has become a synonym for scholarship, essays are no longer considered as significant scholarly contributions, which negatively affects the creation of new and seminal ideas. As a result, doing original research also becomes immensely difficult for the lack of intellectual training that essay-writing can provide. Emphasizing that the necessity of research is paramount, the article explores areas where the academia fails to ensure the prerequisite training for research and argues that through the integration of essay-writing into the curriculum (curated by academics who are themselves essayists), the sudden and therefore superficial engagement with research can be replaced by the creative drive towards textual-intellectual engagement which is a must for a holistic academic landscape.