PLACE AND CONTESTED IDENTITY: PORTRAYING THE ROLE OF THE PLACE IN SHAPING COMMON SOCIOPOLITICAL IDENTITY IN THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS, BANGLADESH H.M. Ashraf Ali This research is about how a collective socio-political identity, the ‘Pahari’ (the hill people), is constructed by the ethnoculturally diversifi ed groups of indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. While conducting my PhD dissertation fi eldwork in the CHT, I experienced that most of the non-Bengali ethnicities use a common term ‘Pahari’ in their everyday conversations. This term derives from the Bengali word ‘pahar’, which means “hill”; and the term ‘Pahari’ is the term used by ‘the inhabitants of hills’ or ‘the hill people’ to introduce them to visi- tors, tourists, or in their everyday conversations. Of course, they have their own distinctive and individual ethnic identity marked by language, religion, kinship, and marriage system (e.g., Chakma, Marma, Tanchang ya). Thus, they have two different identities: the ethnic identity and the common socio-political identity. The infl uence of hills, land, forest, Kaptai Lake, and above all, the ecological system of this region on the economy and the lives of the people who live here is immense. In this research paper, I will refl ect on how a particular place, a different geographical setting, is used to bring group members of diverse ethnicities together in order to construct a common socio-political identity. Although the ‘place’ is central to the construction of this Pahari identity, social, economic, and political relations with the Bengalis appear as determining factors in adopting such collective identity by the culturally differentiating ethnicities in the CHT. Finally, I will describe how and why the Pahari identity is contested and contradictory in broader socio-political context in Bangladesh. he historical development, strategic Pali, Burmese, and Assamese dialect where- Tgeograhical position, ethnocultural di- as all the Bengalis of the plain speak in one versity, and economic-political signifi cance language—Bengali. From religious point of of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) has view, a majority of these ethnic groups such marked it as a unique place within South Asia. as the Chakma, the Marma, and the Tan- The CHT is situated in the southeast corner changya are Buddhists and the rest of them of Bangladesh and is bordered by the Indian are either followers of Hinduism or Christi- state of Tripura in the north and Mizoram anity. Conversely, the majority of the Benga- in the east. The country of Myanmar bor- lis are followers of the religion of Islam. ders in the southeastern part. In Bangla- The twelve ethnic groups largely de- desh, this mountainous region of the CHT pend on shifting cultivation, forest, and hills is comprised of three districts—Rangamati, for their livelihoods whereas the Bengalis of Bandarban, and Khagrachari. The CHT the plain depend on a homogenous form of has been the home of the following 12 eth- agriculture: plough-cultivation (Ahsan and nic groups for hundreds of years: Chakma, Chakma 1989; Ali and Shafi e 2005; Chakma Tanchangya, Marma, Tripura, Reang, Mro, 2010; Schendel 1992). Thus, the CHT is a Lushai, Khumi, Chak, Khyang, Bawm, and very important region in Bangladesh for stra- Pankhua. These ethnic groups of people are tegic geographic position and security rea- distinct from the majority Bengali population sons (e.g., the border with India and Myan- of Bangladesh with respect to race/ethnic- mar), the location of hydroelectric power ity, language, culture, religion and other social resources (e.g., Kaptai Hydroelectric Proj- systems. For example, most of these ethnic ect), natural resources (e.g., forests and Kap- groups speak in a mixed language of Bengali, tai Lake), and possible economic and tourism Graduate student; Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta Author contact: [email protected] DIVERSIPEDE, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 31-46, 2012 31 DIVERSIPEDE VOL. 1, NO. 2, 2012 development. Sociocultural differences and itants. They emphasize four key criteria, cultural diversity are prevalent throughout namely the ‘place’ and ‘time’, the ‘nature and this region, primarily due to the diversity of sources of their livelihoods’; and the ‘tradi- indigenous peoples. tion and pattern of lifestyle’ that markedly However, there are different discours- differs from the Bengalis of the plain. These es, confusions, and debates about the actual Pahari people argue that they are the original identity of these ethnic groups in CHT. The inhabitants of the CHT, as they have been people of the CHT have so far been repre- living in the hills for generations, at least sented as the Tribal or the Upzati in govern- since before the arrival of any Bengali here ment documents from the British colonial In this paper, I examine how and why government to independent Bangladesh. the CHT people from ethnoculturally diverse The Jummas, the Adivashi, and the indigenous groups use the term Pahari. Some anthropol- people are also the parallel collective identity ogists have recently used the term Pahari in for the twelve ethnic groups in the CHT, their research in the CHT (e.g., Ahamed 2006; which are mainly represented by the indige- Ali and Shafi e 2005; Uddin 2008), but none nous political groups, academic and indepen- of them contextualizes and elaborates upon dent researchers, and international human it in relation to place, recent sociocultural rights organizations (Ahamed 2006, 376; Ali change, and unequal power relations with- and Shafi e 2005, 68; UNDP 2009, 1). As this in the Pahari community. Considering the study observed, most of the indigenous peo- scope and objective of this paper, I will not ple in the study locality use the term Pahari in elaborate about the other parallel terms such their day to day conversations or to introduce as the Jummas, Adivashi, and stereotyped themselves to others (i.e., visitors or tourists). identity such as Upzati or Tribal. Throughout Sometimes they also use the term Adi- this paper I will use both terms Pahari and vashi, meaning ‘the original people/inhabit- indigenous to indicate all non-Bengali ethnic ants’, and sometimes they use the term Jum- groups in the CHT. Sometimes, I also use the ma, a term deriving from the practice of jhum phrase ‘CHT people’ to denote all the non- chash (shifting cultivation). The term Jumma Bengali people in the CHT. However, I have was romanticized and popularized by the in- observed that two common words, namely digenous political leadership to mobilize the Pahari and Adivashi, are mostly used by re- diverse ethnic groups from the CHT for the search participants and other local people resistance movement against the Bangladesh in this study area. Although Pahari and Adi- army and the immigrant Bengalis in the mid- vashi are used as the collective socio-political 1970s. Though various international human identity and they have intimate relationship rights organizations including the Interna- to a ‘place’ and ‘time’, I would rather confi ne tional Labor Organization (ILO) and the my focus on the Pahari and its background United Nations Development Programme and signifi cance in relation to their economic (UNDP) identify these 12 ethnic groups col- and sociopolitical life and how it is used to lectively as “indigenous people” based on differentiate the Pahari from the Bengalis of cultural traditions and way of life, the gov- the plains. ernment of Bangladesh has recently enlisted This paper is divided into three major them as “small ethnic groups” in the Bangla- sections. The fi rst section describes meth- desh Constitution (for a more detailed dis- odology, study locality and the ethnocultur- cussion of this, see The Daily Star 2011). al features of the research participants and In response, the people in the CHT dif- the historical/political context of the CHT. fer with this government decision. Rather, It highlights how the indigenous people at- they claim that they are the original inhab- tempt to bring aspects of social, economic 32 H.M. ASHRAF ALI PLACE AND CONTESTED IDENTITY and political relations with the Bengalis and ples are Buddhist. Although the Tripura fol- the Bangladesh state together to form this lowed Hinduism, most of them in this study sociopolitical identity. The second section locality are converts to the religion of Chris- explains the term Pahari and how it is used tianity. The Lushais are Christians (Chakma by the study community in their everyday life. 2010). Assamese (locally called Ahamiya) It also concentrates on how the indigenous and Nepalese or Gurkha are Hindu. Both people link a place to the construction of the ancestors of the contemporary Ahamiya the collective Pahari identity. Finally, it dem- and Gurkha people living in the study local- onstrates how and why the Pahari identity is ity migrated from Assam in India and Nepal, contested and contradictory in broader so- respectively, during British colonial rule in ciopolitical context in Bangladesh. the 19th century. The social and cultural dif- ferences between the indigenous and Bengali METHODOLOGY population are marked by different ethnic My PhD dissertation fi eldwork on mi- origins, social organizations, and cultural sys- crocredit, power, and poverty at Rangamati tems (e.g., marriage, social customs, kinship, in CHT was conducted in two phases be- religion, and language). The Chakma, Mar- tween May 2009 and July 2011. I used stan- ma, Tripura, Tanchangya, and Lushai people dard anthropological data collection tech- lived in Rangamati long before the Bengali niques, including participant observation, people migrated to this region. It can be as- unstructured interviews with key informants, sumed from different historical sources and and semi-structured focus group interviews narratives of the local indigenous people that following purposive and snowball sampling. they are the original inhabitants of the CHT I talked to key informants, particularly to el- and are of Sino-Tibetan descent, belong- ders and community leaders.