Born in Bangladesh (1933), Professor Muhammad Anisur Rahman was trained in Economics at Dhaka University and Harvard University. Initially a theoretical economist he taught at Dhaka University and Islamabad University at Rawalpindi, Pakistan where he founded its Institute of Social Science and its Department of Economics. Joining the first Planning Commission of Bangladesh after the country's liberation Anisur Rahman got involved with self-reliant grassroots development initiatives in the country stimulated by the inspiration of the liberation war, and transcended the boundaries of economics to become a "student of life" as he puts it. Since then he has been advocating "people's self- development" challenging conventional 'top-down' development thinking. He joined the International Labour Office in Geneva in 1977 to initiate and direct a global programme on "Participatory Organizations of the Rural Poor" providing leadership in Participatory Development, particularly in the theoretical and practical articulation of Participatory Action Research (PAR). He retired from the ILO in 1990 and has since then been based in Bangladesh. Anisur Rahman has been instrumental in introducing and promoting PAR in Bangladesh through "Research Initiatives - Bangladesh" (RIB), a research-funding agency established in April 2002 with Rahman as one of the honorary founding Members of its Board.

Anisur Rahman's current intellectual and activist concerns include (a) the promotion of people's collective "atmosakti" (a Tagorian term meaning "self- strength") and creative self-realization, (b) "humanizing the poverty discourse", looking at basic human needs in terms of holistic human aspirations as distinct from the dominant poverty discourse concerned with what he terms as "the livestock notion of poverty" that looks merely at one's minimum subsistence needs, (c) promoting ” Participatory Action Research” or “Gonogobeshona” as it is being called in Bangladesh; (4) stimulating and assisting a youth campaign to eradicate illiteracy in Bangladesh as fast as possible.

Singing Tagore's songs is Anisur Rahman's principal aesthetic pursuit. He has distinguished himself as an expressive exponent of Tagore singing with a distinctive style of his own. He is performing as well as lecturing on Tagore singing in Bangladesh and India and is writing on the subject. As a unique initiative in Tagore's music he mobilized in1999 37 painters of Bangladesh to present artworks based on Tagore's song that were translated into English by him (Rahman 1999). He has also been giving workshops and lectures in Bangladesh and in Kolkata and Santiniketan on modern vocal science and has produced a DVD on the subject. Anisur Rahman was awarded the biennial "Rabindra Purashkar" (Rabindra Prize) by the Rabindra Parishad of Patna, Bihar, India, in May 2004 for his contribution to Tagore's music and literature. A documentary film on his singing and view of Tagore songs – Bhuban Bhara Shur (Melodies of the Soul) – produced by Meghna Guhathakurta and Shipra Bose and directed by Shabnam Ferdousi has been released in March 2009.

This website presents selections from Anisur Rahman's more recent writings, experiences and thoughts and a few of his songs.