Ethnicity and Adivasi Identity in Bangladesh

130 Pages·2022·2.918 MB·English

by  Mahmudul H. Sumon

Ethnicity and Adivasi Identity
in Bangladesh
This book explores the transitions in the adivasi identity as well as in the
political representation of adivasi communities in Bangladesh.
It traces the use of categories such as “primitive”, “tribe”, and “adivasi”
in post-colonial Bangladesh, both in the political discourse and in everyday
life. The volume studies the history of these essentialized categories used
for indigenous communities within the hierarchies of power and identity. It
also analyses the diverse articulations of indigeneity through ethnographic
narratives, exploring the formations of newer traditions and identity. The
author highlights the persistence of the terms “simple” and “primitive” in
contemporary discourses while also sharing examples of complex mediations
and appropriation of these categories by adivasi groups in Bangladesh.
This book will be of interest to researchers and students of sociology,
social ethnography, social and cultural anthropology, indigenous studies,
exclusion studies, development studies, political sociology, and South Asian
studies.
Mahmudul H. Sumon is Professor of Anthropology at Jahangirnagar
University, Savar, Bangladesh. He studied at Jahangirnagar University for his
bachelor and master degrees and completed his Ph.D. from the University of
Kent, at Canterbury, UK. He has co-edited two books, on adivasi politics
of naming and land rights issues. His current research deals with questions
of labour rights and justice in the wake of neo-liberal globalization.

Ethnicity and Adivasi Identity
in Bangladesh
Mahmudul H. Sumon
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 2023 Mahmudul H. Sumon
The right of Mahmudul H. Sumon to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-40391-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-40395-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-35289-1 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/b23270
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
To
My parents who grew old with it and my partner who
suffered the consequence by taking up her own doctoral
project!

Contents
List of figures viii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
1 Transnational governmentality and adivasi
subjectivity today 1
2 Colonial archives and its effects 21
3 Reloading the “Adivasi” figure? 40
4 Wanna or Wangala festival and its revival 61
5 Ādibāsī āche? . . . āche 78
6 Postscript 97
Appendix 100
Bibliography 105
Index 116
Figures
1.1 A theatre production (2009–2010) called Rarang bases
its stories on adivasi people’s struggle for land. Bows
and arrows prominently feature in this theatrical space.
Experimental Hall, Shilpakala Academy Dhaka. 11
3.1 Celebration of International Indigenous Day in 2012 amidst
fear that the government will not allow any mass gathering. 47
3.2 A poster displayed in Khagrachari. 57
4.1 An invitation card from an adivasi rights group to a
discussion programme organized on the occasion of
International Mother’s Language Day. 62
4.2 Objects containing religious symbols related to Christianity
sold in the different stalls of Wangala 2010. 67
4.3 Temporary stalls installed during Wangala 2010. 69
4.4 A puja performed during Wangala in 2010. 70
4.5 The sacrifice. 71
5.1 Naogaon long march 2009. 79
6.1 Wangala festival in 2021 in Dhaka highlights Joinik
Nokrek’s death. The cut-out says goodbye legend in Bangla. 98
Preface
While reviewing an art exhibition by the Indian artist Sanasi Lohar [held
at Dhaka’s Goethe-Institute] on the Santals, an art critique quotes the art-
ist: “My. . . work is mainly on the sights and scenes found in the Santal
villages”. The critique references the artist’s affiliation with Santiniketan,
the school established by the celebrated Bengali poet and Nobel laure-
ate Rabindranath Tagore. “The flora and fauna of ‘Santal life’ have been
clearly indicated” and “captured with passion”, the critique writes and
then quotes the artist as if to substantiate her own point: “The simple
and uncomplicated life of the Santal would inspire any artist” (emphases
added). The review concludes with the following lines: “The camarade-
rie, bonhomie and contentment of Santal life [are] clearly presented in the
paintings” (Haq 2007).
The critique and the artist both use phrases like “Santal life” or “the
Santal village” as an archetype. They are good examples of how these arche-
types have become an object of high “art and culture” and how they have
found their way into Dhaka’s art scene in the new millennia. When it comes
to representing the “tribal” people of sub-continental India, the urge to
portray a people or community with a “simple” way of life (an archetype
constructed by anthropological/missionary works and other mechanisms
of colonial/modern governmentality) or an almost “nude” or little clothed
people, automatically takes its hold.
The critique’s choice of the words such as “camaraderie”, “bonhomie”,
and “contentment” is worth noting. Surely, they are not accidental choices
of words. On the contrary, they can be seen as derivative of a colonialist
text, which continues to have a domineering effect today. Confronted with
such texts, I often wonder if a people as coherent as the picturesque Santals
live only in the minds of the enlightened artist, the writer (who is no less
“enlightened”), and the urbanite educated. Or else how can one explain the
persistence of such archetypes?
I raise these questions at a time when anthropological knowledge produc-
tion and its situatedness have become a relatively common concern. Today a
rich set of literature exists that deals with the question of anthropology and
colonialism/colonial discourse/power and subject formation (Said 1978;