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Everyday Geographies of the Enclaves in India and Bangladesh

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Everyday Geographies of the Enclaves in India and Bangladesh Durham E-Theses Life, the Law and the Politics of Abandonment: Everyday Geographies of the Enclaves in India and Bangladesh SHEWLY, HOSNA,JAHAN How to cite: SHEWLY, HOSNA,JAHAN (2012) Life, the Law and the Politics of Abandonment: Everyday Geographies of the Enclaves in India and Bangladesh, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5898/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Life, the Law and the Politics of Abandonment: Everyday Geographies of the Enclaves in India and Bangladesh This PhD strives to understand what roles politico-spatial-legality play in shaping everyday life in the enclaves located in the northwest borderland curve in the India-Bangladesh border. Conceptually and legally, an enclave is a fragmented territory of one sovereign power located inside another sovereign territory. Following the decolonisation process in 1947, both India and Pakistan/Bangladesh inherited more than 200 enclaves. By investigating an everyday geography of the politico-spatial-legality in Indian and Bangladeshi enclaves, the aim of this thesis is to understand how the long existence of these enclaves shape their residents’ everyday lives. This thesis examines four research questions – i) how do the politico-spatial-legal factors shape citizenship in the enclaves? ii) What role(s) do boundaries perform in everyday life in the enclaves? iii) What are the (il)legal-political vulnerabilities present in the enclaves? And iv) What are the (il)legal survival methods adopted by the enclave residents’? The whole research is based on a seven-month ethnographic account in six enclaves and short visits (one day in each enclave) to another twenty enclaves during the pilot study in India and Bangladesh. The field sites were selected based on enclave size, distance from the border, practice of religion and relationship with the concerned states. The ethnography involved observing mundane events at different periods of time in different segments of the enclaves and nearby borderlands, and participating in local gathering in tea stalls, women’s evening socialisation and other social events. 55 in-depth interviews with the enclave residents and 10 interviews with the state officials were conducted for a detailed understanding of personal experiences and negotiations, and state perspectives on the enclave matter respectively. The thesis reveals that the enclave residents live in a non citizenship status, and the border is experienced in myriad ways in the enclaves constituting politico-juridical, social and gendered forms of bare life. On the other hand, the enclave dwellers find ways of attempting to cope with such circumstances and try to survive and advance their life through the loopholes of the state- system. The approach adopted in this thesis to study enclaves through the framework of politico-spatial-legality interactions is expected to advance enclave research. In addition, the thesis contributes to the academic literatures on citizenship and abandonment, border, bare life and rhythms of survival tactics. At policy level, the thesis can help policy makers understand ground vulnerabilities and difficult lives in the enclaves as there is very little government work available on enclave life. Life, the Law and the Politics of Abandonment: Everyday Geographies of the Enclaves in India and Bangladesh This dissertation is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Geography Hosna Jahan Shewly Department of Geography, Durham University, September 2012. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... iii-v List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... vii-viii List of Maps ................................................................................................................................ ix List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................. x Declaration of Authorship and Copyright ............................................................................... xi Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ xii-xiii Chapter 1: Introduction - A Brief Account of this Research & Cooch Behar Enclaves . 1-28 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1 Aim and Research Questions of the Study ............................................................................... 4 How do politico-spatial-legal factors shape citizenship in the enclaves? .......................... 5 What role(s) do boundaries perform in everyday life in the enclaves? .............................. 5 What are the (il)legal-political vulnerabilities present in the enclaves? ............................ 6 What are the (il)legal survival methods adopted by the enclave residents? ....................... 6 Definitions and Global Distribution of the Enclaves ................................................................ 7 What is an Enclave? ........................................................................................................... 7 Existing Enclaves of the World ......................................................................................... 9 The Cooch Behar Enclave Facts ............................................................................................. 12 Cooch Behar Enclaves in Pre Nation-state Era ................................................................ 12 Cooch Behar Enclaves in Post-Partition Period: Access ................................................. 14 Anomalies over Total Population and Number of Cooch Behar Enclaves ...................... 15 Factors behind Cooch Behar Enclaves’ Extensive Existence ................................................. 17 Jinxed Enclave Exchange Proposals ................................................................................ 17 India-Pakistan/Bangladesh Relations and Enclave Issue ........................................................ 22 Thesis Outline and Conclusion ............................................................................................... 26 Chapter 2: Political Geography of an Enclave through the Lens of Politico-Spatial- Legality ................................................................................................................................. 29-50 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 29 ‘Enclave’: A Neglected Term in Political Geography Vocabulary ........................................ 30 Literatures on enclave-like geopolitical outliers ............................................................. 32 Cooch Behar Enclaves in Literature ....................................................................................... 34 Why Study Enclaves in Political Geography? ........................................................................ 37 Politico-Spatial-Legality: A Framework to Study Enclaves ................................................... 40 Multiple Interactions of Politico-Spatial-Legality ........................................................... 42 The Importance of the Everyday in Enclave Study ............................................................... 44 Everyday Politico-Spatial-Legality in Cooch Behar Enclaves .............................................. 46 PSL between the Enclave-Home Country........................................................................ 46 PSL between the Enclave-Host Country .......................................................................... 47 PSL Everyday Survival in the Enclaves........................................................................... 49 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 49 Chapter 3: Methodological Reflection ............................................................................... 51-76 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 51 Pre-fieldwork Dilemmas: Sensitivity of the Topic, Visa & Legality Matters
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