ǲmodernizingǳ ISLAM the IMAM DISCOURSE in BANGLADESH By

ǲMODERNIZINGǳ THE IMAM DISCOURSE IN BANGLADESH by Almas Zakiuddin B.A. The University of Karachi, 1969 M.A. The University of Karachi, 1980 M.A. The University of Toronto, 1996 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (ǯ and Gender Relations) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) January, 2012 © Almas Zakiuddin, 2012 Abstract International development policies and practices are curiously silent on the subject of religion. It is an overt silence, in the sense that religion appears to be deliberately omitted from consideration. There is an implicit assumption that societies in the South will adopt the secular project of political modernity already perfected in and by the North. The paradox, however, as my dissertation demonstrates, is that development and religion are deeply imbricated at various local, national and transnational sites of power-knowledge. I adopt Foucauldian ǲ ǳ and a post-colonial, post-modern, feminist theoretical framework to focus on Bangladesh, a ǲǳ Muslim nation-state, as a case study of this paradox. My investigations reveal that international development organizations, in conjunction with a patriarchal Bangladeshi state, are targeting and trans(forming) tens of thousands of male Muslim imams as socio-political and religious authority figures or ǲLeaders of Influenceǳ ǲ in ǳ. I propose that in this newly constituted discourse, male Muslim imams are being instilled with new forms of authority and influence not only in relation to Islam, but ǯ ǤIn embracing the development project, trained imams are constituted simultaneously not only as non- modern men who are a potential challenge to the development mission, but as subjects being given opportunities to strengthen their gender and religious authority in the service ǡǲ ǳ. My conclusions emerge from an interdisciplinary, qualitative study that included fieldwork in Bangladesh in summer 2006. I show how the Imam Discourse emerges in a particular ethno-religious context and a post 9/11 ǲǳwhen American hegemonic interests are dominating geo-political understandings of, and entanglements with Muslim subjects. I also explore emerging, new counter-discourses that pertain to development and Muslim society and reflect gender-aware, and Muslim feminist reinterpretations of political modernity, secularism and international development. ii Preface Approval for my fieldwork in Bangladesh was granted by The University of British Columbia, Behavioural Research Ethics Board under a Certificate of Approval Number B06-0448 dated June 20, 2006 for a term of one year. I did not request a renewal or extension. iii Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... ii Preface .................................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................. iv List of Tables ...................................................................................................................................... viii Glossary .................................................................................................................................................. ix Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... xii Dedication ............................................................................................................................................ xiv 1 Chapter: Introduction.............................................................................................................................1 1.1 ǣǲ ǳ ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Transforming male Muslim imams ........................................................................................................ 3 1.3 Disentangling religion and development ............................................................................................. 7 1.4 Methodological guidelines ......................................................................................................................... 9 1.5 New technologies of power-knowledge .............................................................................................10 1.6 Politics in a post 9/11 context ...............................................................................................................12 1.7 ǲǳ ................................................................................................................................................17 1.8 Organization and chapter description ................................................................................................18 2 Chapter: Conceptualizing religion and development................................................................25 2.1 ǣǲ-ǳ ..............................................25 2.2 Summary of my research..........................................................................................................................25 2.3 A puzzling experience ................................................................................................................................26 2.4 ǲ ǳ ..................................................................................................................31 2.5 ǲ ǳ .....................................................................................................................................33 2.6 Development as discourse .......................................................................................................................35 2.7 Methodological dilemmas ........................................................................................................................37 2.8 Locating the researcher: limits and excesses ...................................................................................40 2.9 My positionalities: insights and limitations ......................................................................................42 2.10 Reversing the gaze ......................................................................................................................................46 2.11 ǲ ǳ ....................................................................................................50 2.12 Methodological strategies ........................................................................................................................52 2.13 Fieldwork: generating my research material ..................................................................................54 2.14 Particular characteristics: limitations and strengths ...................................................................57 2.15 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................61 ͵ǣ ǲǳǣ .....................................................65 3.1 Introduction: foundational assumptions ...........................................................................................65 3.2 ǣǲǳǡǲǳǲǳ ..........................................................65 3.3 ǲ ǳ .........................................................................................................70 3.4 Implications for my research ..................................................................................................................72 3.5 Origins and trajectories ............................................................................................................................74 3.6 Failures of development ...........................................................................................................................78 3.7 ǲǳ .............................................................................................................................79 3.8 ǯǲ ǳ ............................................................................................................82 3.9 Development approaches: WID and WAD ........................................................................................85 3.10 Gender and development (GAD) ...........................................................................................................87 3.11 ǲ-ǳ ......................................................................................................89 3.12 Feminist approaches: scholars and practitioners ..........................................................................91 3.13 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................93 4 Chapter: Bangladesh: Particularities of the terrain.................................................................. 97 4.1 Introduction: Re-conceptualizing identities.....................................................................................97 4.2 Complexities of the Bengali-Muslim dichotomy .......................................................................... 100 4.3 Old frictions die hard .............................................................................................................................

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