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ABSTRACT
This article problematises the marketisation of Islam in Bangladesh and the relationship between neo-liberal economic policies and the resurgence of a certain kind of Islamic religiosity in the country. Based on the findings of three field studies that employed a multi-method approach, the article analyses the macro-cultural impacts of development as well as highlights the embedded, nuanced, and complex set of economic and political relationships that appear to fuel social inequality and engender inequitable distribution and growth. Empirical findings identify the implementation of development policies based on client-patron relations as the main problematic precursor. The findings suggest such relations facilitate an ongoing marginalisation of minority groups, in which ‘othering’ among the equals emerge as a cemented outcome. The findings further suggest the outcomes move across social groups and are in transit and under negotiation, becoming braided with adverse impact on Bangla language, Bengali cultures, the country’s advanced education sector, and the overall ability for Bangladeshis to think critically and produce and sustain social relations. Evidence also indicates Bengali cultures appear to become increasingly embedded in a number of rituals in the name of Islamic principles and philosophy. The article refers to this phenomenon as the ‘great’ transformation of contemporary Bangladesh.
Acknowledgements
The author warmly thanks Drs Ali Riaz and David Geary. Part of the research was initially supported by the Hampton Fund at the UBC as well as UBC Irving K. Barber research and travel grant. The article benefited greatly from comments provided by anonymous referees. An earlier version of the research was published as “Islam, Neo-liberalism and Intolerance in Bangladesh: An analysis” on Journal of Bangladesh Studies 23(2): 25-41.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. IFAD Group, 2021.
2. A new phase of understanding of the politics of development began in the 1970s when the Bretton Woods financial institutions imposed structural changes in the modern era that ultimately changed the meaning of development, especially for those countries trapped by these new arrangements. For example, these international financial donor institutions removed the control of the state on capital that consequently weakened the capacity of a state to promote national economic growth. At the same time, the dominant economic players encouraged increased cross border capital flows. These changing policies are frequently defined as neoliberalism. See Harvey (2005), Chang (2003), Husain (2019), Reinert (2007), and Venugopal (2015) for details.
3. Saad-Filho, 2003.
4. Kissinger, 1994.
5. Casanova, 1994.
6. Gauthier, 2019.
7. Polanyi, 2008 [1944].
8. Bengali culture is based on the material conditions – agriculture, food, weather, and climate, among others, for the ethnic Bangla (Bengali) speaking peoples living in the Ganges Delta region of the Indian subcontinent. Rivers, boats, monsoon, agriculture, and folk music, among others, are the backbone of the Bengali culture. Bengali people speak in various dialects of the Bengali language. Traditionally, rivers form as boundaries as to where one dialect will begin and another will end (e.g. people on both sides of the Padma River speak in two different dialects of the Bengali language). Various historical and political events and influences divided the Bengali culture into two countries: West Bengal province in India and to the east, Bangladesh. This consequentially led to the construction of two cultural capitals for the Bengali culture: Kolkata (previously, Calcutta) in West Bengal and Dhaka (previously, Dacca) in Bangladesh. In the 21st century, Bengali culture has expanded globally to the various corners of the world due to emigration. At the same time, this culture appears to be slowly disappearing vis-à-vis other dominant South Asian cultures based on Hindi and Urdu languages. Moreover, the influence of English language and culture, as a result of colonisation, remains strong in the region. Collectively, one can argue that these external cultural influences, as they mix with various external economic and political forces, subtly cause a sense of insecurity among the Bengalis (collected from anonymous interviewees).
9. Polanyi, 2008 [1944].
10. Barber, 1996.
11. Chang, 2003.
12. Reinert, 2007.
13. Barber, 1996.
14. Brown, 2006.
15. Dikeç, 2006.
16. Connolly, 2005.
17. Gopalakrishnan, 2009.
18. Karaman, 2013.
19. Atia, 2012.
20. Harb and Deeb, 2011.
21. Casanova, 1994.
22. Ibid, pp. 65–66.
23. Turner, 2011.
24. Gauthier, 2019.
25. Turner, 2011, p. 278.
26. Gauthier, 2019, p. 202.
27. Idib, p. 201.
28. Ibid, p. 202.
29. Polanyi, 2008 [1944].
30. Ibid, p. 24.
31. Roy, 2014 [1983].
32. Eaton, 1993.
33. Zaman, 2014, online.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.
36. Gönenç, 2019.
37. Doğan, 2013, p. 291.
38. Gönenç, 2019, p. 5.
39. Hoşgör, 2015.
40. Öztürk, 2011, p. 109.
41. Atılgan, 2012, p. 351.
42. Gürel, 2015, p. 337.
43. Boratav, 2014, p. 72.
44. White, 2002, p. 233.
45. Gönenç, 2019.
46. Joya, 2020.
47. Harvey, 2003.
48. Joya, 2020, p. 68.
49. El-Sherif, 2014.
50. Joya, 2020, p. 119.
51. Rudnyckyj, 2009, p. 106.
52. Comaroff and Comaroff, 2000.
53. Rudnyckyj, 2009, p. 104.
54. Ibid, p. 107.
55. Saad-Filho, 2003, p. 7.
56. Lewis, 2011.
57. Peek, 2005.
58. Schmidt, 2004.
59. Siddiqi, 2019.
60. Author interview with Anonymous. Dhaka, 16 August 2016.
61. Hegel, 1979 [1807].
62. Anderson, 1983.
63. Cohn, 1996.
64. Ibid.
65. Rahim, 2007.
66. Ibid, p. 556.
67. Kabir, 2007.
68. Siddiqui, 2018, p. 244.
69. Sen, 1982.
70. Chossudovsky, 2003, p. 161.
71. Siddiqi, 2018, p. 254.
72. Khan, 2019.
73. Kabeer, 2011, p. 149.
74. ibid, p. 147.
75. Sobhan, 1984, p. 202.
76. Chossudovsky, 2003, p. 161.
77. Gauthier, 2019.
78. Polanyi, 2008 [1944].
79. Personal communication, 13 July 2021.
80. Gauthier, 2019, p. 201.
81. Ibid, p. 210.
82. Gauthier, 2019.
83. Turner, 2011.
84. Kibria, 2008.
85. Gardner and Osella, 2004, p. xxxiii.
86. Kibria, 2008, p. 521.
87. Griffiths and Hasan, 2015.
88. White, 2002.
89. Bangladesh’r Rajniti, 2021, online.
90. Stille, 2020.
91. Casanova, 1994.
92. Gauthier, 2019, p. 202.
93. Schendel, 2009, p. 38.
94. Barber, 1996.
95. Casanova, 1994.
96. Gauthier, 2019.
97. Ibid.
98. Polanyi, 2008 [1944].
99. Quadir, 2015.
100. Amundsen, 2016.
101. Ruud, 2011.
102. Lewis, 2011.
103. Riaz, 2014.
104. Ruud, 2011.
105. Ahmad, 2021, online.
106. Riaz, 2012, 2014.
107. Tasnim, 2012.
108. Mishra, 2012.
109. Casanova, 1994, p. 66.
110. Lewis, 2011.
111. Riaz, 2004.
112. Rosenblum, 2003.
113. Polanyi, 2008 [1944], p. 24.
114. Riaz, 2004.
115. Tareque Masud, 2010.
116. Sunandapriya, 2013.
117. UN, 2015, p. 6–7.
118. Aadhaar means ‘foundation’ or ‘base.’ In the context of India, the term refers to a 12-digit unique identity number for the residents or passport holders in India, based on their biometric and demographic data. Presently, Aadhaar is the world’s largest biometric ID system. Ref: https://uidai.gov.in/about-uidai.html.
119. Personal communication, 24 August 2016.
120. UN, 2015.
121. Kibria, 2008.
122. World Watch Monitor, 2015.
123. European Country of Origin Information Network, 2018.
124. UN, 2015.
125. Siddiqi, 2019, p. 2.
126. Feldman, 2016, p. 2.
127. Sobhan, 1984, p. 26, 58, and 146.
128. Sobhan 1984, 202.
129. Hashim, 1965, p. 33.
130. Huq, 2013, p. 56.
131. Calhoun et. al, 2011.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Matt M Husain
Matt M Husain is a postdoctoral teaching fellow at the Department of Sociology at UBC Okanagan. His interdisciplinary research includes broad thematic areas of global political economy and development, transnational migration, social justice and governance, seeking to create bridges among research and practice. Dr. Husain’s work features in a range of journal articles, book chapters and edited volumes as well as received press coverage in The Times Higher Education.