Biographical Note
Vijay Prashad
Professor of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, USA
Mr. Vijay Prashad is a Professor of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, and a journalist and
commentator. He earned his B.A. in History, Pomona College, Claremont, CA, in 1989, M.A. in History,
University of Chicago in 1990, and Ph.D. in History, University of Chicago, in 1994.
Prashad is the author of fifteen books, of which five were published in 2012. These include:
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Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (India's The Hindu called it "a book that deserves to become
essential reading, a canonical account of a world-historic chain of events");
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Uncle Swami: Being South Asian in America (Boston Globe called this book as "required reading
for anyone who wants to understand race, assimilation and patriotism".);
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The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South (the former UN Secretary General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali called it "a contribution to the intellectual-cum-political emancipation of
developing countries and their empowerment through greater self-reliance on their own
intellectual and analytical resources.”).
Other books of Prashad include: The Darker Nations. A People's History of the Third World (2007),
Keeping Up with the Dow Joneses: Debt, Prison, Workfare (2003), Fat Cats and Running Dogs: The Enron
Stage of Capitalism (2002), Enron Blowout: Corporate Capitalism and the Theft of the Global Commons
and Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting: Afro-Asian Connections and the Myth of Cultural Purity (2001).
Prashad writes also regularly in the media: as a columnist for Frontline magazine (Chennai, India), as a
contributing editor for Himal South Asia (Kathmandu, Nepal) and for Bol (Lahore, Pakistan), a fortnightly
contributor to Asia Times, an occasional correspondent for al-Akhbar (Beirut, Lebanon) and a regular
contributor to Counterpunch.
In 2013-2014, Mr. Vijay Prashad will be the Edward Said Chair at the American University of Beirut,
Beirut, Lebanon.