essay
Minorities in Bangladesh
Bengal : studies in literature, society and history • (27) • Published In 1976 • Pages: 101-113
By: Khan, Zillur R..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Khan presents in this article a detailed study of majority-minority relations in Bangladesh from ca. 1947 to the 1970s. The author's main hypothesis in this work is that '…in times of social, political and economic crisis the elites of dominant groups tend to use visible minorities as scapegoats in order to divert mass attention from themselves' (p. 101). The first part of this study deals with the use of the Hindu and non-Bengali Muslim minorities as scapegoats by both the Pakistani and Bengali elites. Part two concentrates on the decline of the 'power' of minority groups with the rise of Bengali nationalism. The third part of the work deals with the revival of the old scapegoating technique in post-liberation Bangladesh (post-l970s) by the power elite to divert mass frustration from the actions of the government. The final section of this article presents a brief description of various other tribal-ethnic minorities living in Bangladesh, such as the Chakmas, Moghs, Hajongs, Garos, Santals, Khasis, and the Hindu Kulis.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Cultural identity and pride
- Ethnic stratification
- Tribe and nation
- External relations
- Political parties
- Elections
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Bengali
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2002
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Asia
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- South Asia
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Unknown
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 1992
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1973-1975 [p. 110]
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1947-1970
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Bangladesh
- NotesAdditional notes
- [by] Zillur R. Khan
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Bengalis