Politics of Cultural Difference: Identity and Marginality in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Nasir Uddin

South Asian Survey, 2010, vol. 17, issue 2, 283-294

Abstract: This article analyses the formation of an ethnic category and its relations with the marginalisation of ethnic minorities in the context of upland–lowland relations in Bangladesh. Three central concerns are highlighted. First, it examines the political and historical trajectories of the South Asian subcontinent which has laid down various identities for groups of people such as the Pahari living in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. Second, it critically discusses how colonial policy has continued in the postcolonial era, particularly in dealing with people of different cultures living in the same state’s territory. Finally, the article argues that identity formation is closely linked with the politics of marginality, with particular reference to the Pahari people of the CHT. The article is based on comprehensive data collected through ethnographic fieldwork undertaken at different times from 1997 onwards.

Keywords: Bangladesh; Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT); Pahari; identity; identity formation; marginality; ethnic minorities; ethnic conflict; upland–lowland relations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/097152311201700206 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:soasur:v:17:y:2010:i:2:p:283-294

DOI: 10.1177/097152311201700206

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in South Asian Survey
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().