The Edward W. Said Professorship and Events

 

       

The Edward W. Said Professorship of Comparative Literature is a term-appointment endowed Chair in the UCLA Department of Comparative Literature. The Professorship was established in 2018 by a gift from the estate of Jean Stein, eldest daughter of Jules and Doris Stein (namesake of the UCLA Stein Eye Institute).

Jean Stein, who died in 2017, was a bestselling author, arts patron, and magazine editor who greatly admired the prominent scholar, literary critic, and political activist Edward W. Said (1935-2003). During her career, Stein regularly crossed paths with other luminaries, writers, and intellectuals such as Joan Didion and John Kenneth Galbraith. Stein’s last will and testament endowed this Chair in honor of Said, a longtime professor of literature at Columbia University who founded the field of postcolonial studies.

The endowment is a testament to Stein’s lasting philanthropic legacy at UCLA and provides critical funds to advance faculty research in the Department of Comparative Literature. The Chair will ensure a lasting place for research and teaching of Comparative Literature at UCLA and in the field as a whole.

Endowed Chairs are reserved for scholars and teachers at various stages of their careers who have demonstrated excellence in their field. Dr. Anjali Prabhu currently holds the Edward W. Said Professorship and organizes events in the Edward W. Said Series. The Irving and Jean Stone Professor of the Humanities, Dr. Shu-mei Shih, was the inaugural Chair (2019-2022) who initiated and organized the annual 2021 & 2022 Edward Said Lecture in Comparative Literature during her term.

2021-2022 Edward. W. Said Annual Lectures

2021 lecture
  • Alexander Weheliye – Professor, Northwestern University
2022 lecture