LIVING ON THE EDGE: THE PREDICAMENT OF A RURAL INDIGENOUS SANTAL COMMUNITY IN BANGLADESH By Mrinal Kanti Debnath A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto © Copyright by Mrinal Kanti Debnath 2010 Mrinal K. Debnath Living on the Edge: The Predicament of a Rural Indigenous Santal Community in Bangladesh Doctor of Education, the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, 2010 Abstract This thesis explores the ways in which the legacy of colonialism continues to shape the material and non-material conditions of rural indigenous communities in Bangladesh. This research examines the complex confluence of power, politics, economics, and identities in rural Bangladesh; it explores the web of local, national, and global mechanisms that (re)create and maintain oppressive systems and structures. Adopting an anti-colonial discursive framework and a case study approach, this research incorporates data from semi-structured and informal, in-depth individual interviews, focus-group interviews, an observational journal, and a review of relevant literature to study a remote Santal village in the Rajshahi division of Bangladesh. This study focuses on the voices of the local people, their experiences and narratives, and analyzes the data within the wider contexts of history, politics, and culture. The anti- colonial discursive framework that guides this study acknowledges the material and intellectual agency of local people and the value of their knowledge and lived experiences; it contributes to understanding local history and culture and the saliency of local resistance to oppressive practices. The research findings reveal that colonial structures of oppression are perpetuated by the devaluation of indigenous peoples‘ mother tongue, education, culture, and religion and by distancing them from the land that has belonged to them for centuries. The ii findings present a shift from the ritual-based, cultural matrix of the rural indigenous community and its tradition-oriented socio-political and education systems. Exclusionary policies and practices of the nation state and Christian aggression have fragmented the Santal community, devalued their collectivist mode of living, and alienated them from their traditional ways of life. The process of land alienation has perpetuated the colonial legacy of terra nullius and displaced the indigenous Santal community‘s sense of belonging and its inherent connection to Mother Earth, the bongas1, and the spirits of their ancestors. This dissertation suggests that there is urgent need for activism to resist colonial structures of oppression that continue to this day. This study contributes to literature on anti-colonial struggles across the globe and offers a framework for understanding other colonial and indigenous contexts. 1 The bongas/bongus are spirit(s) or gods of the indigenous Santals. iii Acknowledgments The processes and the product of any research project require contributions and assistance from a host of individuals other than the researcher himself or herself who is after all crowned with the credit for the task. As such, I grab this opportunity to take my hat off to those special individuals who extended valuable support in getting things done for this research project. First and foremost, I am, and will forever remain, indebted to the participants ‗the nucleuses‘ of this study. My heartfelt gratitude goes to you who agreed to be interviewed for this study. I can‘t thank you enough as you spent hours sharing your experience and wisdom in informal talks with me. I am humbled as you even allowed me to tape those talks. Indeed, your voice and lived experience helped me complete this thesis. Therefore, you truly deserve the real credit for this work. I acknowledge with great pride to have had Prof. Paul Olson as my supervisor for this project. I truly enjoyed working with you. You have been the catalyst to boost my confidence through encouragement and granting me the freedom to follow my heart. Your guidance encouragement and insight lifted my spirit. Thanks you for everything; including believing in me. Also, my special appreciation goes to Prof. Jim Cummins and Dr. Njoki Nathani Wane as you both agreed to become the members of my thesis committee. I have the honour to acknowledge the invaluable theoretical insights, information and understanding from your courses and works that have guided me in getting this thesis to its present form. I truly appreciate your time and patience for reading through the drafts and giving invaluable suggestions that helped polish the final thesis. iv I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to George Sefa Dei for introducing Anticolonial Discursive Framework which is the theoretical backbone of this thesis. Your course gave me the single most intellectual incentive to pursue this study in this direction. I cannot exaggerate your importance. I thank you again for rescuing me from the quagmire at CTL (OISE) which almost marred my academic journey. I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to Prof. Dr. Ramesh C. Debnath my father-in-law and Mrs. Asha Rani Debi, my mother-in-law who have been amazingly supportive since the beginning of this project in the Rajshahi area. In his capacity as a professor of Rajshahi University, my father-in-law managed to provide me ‗access‘ to the research site through his colleague Dr. P. C. Sarker and his student Jogendra Soren who himself is an indigenous Santal. I truly appreciate their continued support for the success of this project. I am also indebted to Prof. Dr. Sarker for his providing me with his network in the midst of adivasis. I truly appreciate his role as the external examiner of the Final Examination Committee and his in-depth feedback from the other side of the planet; namely Bangladesh, the location of the research. I acknowledge his suggestion and logistic support during the phase of data collection. I also appreciate and acknowledge the contribution of Professor Peter Sawchuk of Sociology and Equity Studies as well as his role as the fourth reader of this thesis. I acknowledge your generosity for reading through the draft and for making yourself available at a crucial moment of the final oral examination. You have enlightened me in a special way. v I would like to acknowledge the help from Jogendra Soren, Benjamin Hasda, and other individuals of the Bashantapur area office of Adivasi Unnayan Sangstha AUS, (Indigenous Development Agency). This project would not have come to fruition without your generosity. You have been gracious throughout the process of recruiting the respondents, facilitating the focus group interviews and providing me with security in the area where JMB, an outlawed Islamist terrorist outfit, was terrorizing the nation during the time of my data collection. A special ‗thank you‘ is due to Sunil, the local buddy. You are such a wonderful guide and a friend in that unknown remote territory. You took me to every door of the participants. I still treasure the memory of how delightfully we two enjoyed the home made mid-day lunch under the shade of that big banyan tree. My heart-felt appreciation goes to Prof. Chanchal K. Debnath, my immediate older brother for his tireless encouragement and prayers amidst his battle against Parkinson's disease back in a small town in Bangladesh. I would like to thank my another big brother Vishmadeb Debnath and his wife Shima Debnath Sharma from Long Island, New York for their dedication and many years of supports, especially during my graduate studies in California which actually laid the foundation for this work. No one deserves greater acknowledgment than my wife, Karabi and my son Kausthubha Kantimoy, daddy‘s boy. You both had to bear the brunt from the pangs of separation for months when I had to leave you two behind in Toronto for data collection. Thank you for your patience and understanding. vi I would like to thank Dr. Sourabhi Debnath, Mr. Tanmoy Debnath, Dr. Sara Promislow, Mr. Chris Quinn and Mrs. Aparna Gupta for their invaluable support in various capacities. Last but not least, although I tried my best to present information and interpretation as accurately as possible, I take full responsibility for any inadvertent errors in this dissertation. vii Table of Contents Title Page…………………………………………………………………………………i Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..ii Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………….....iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………....viii Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………..xiii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………xiv Chapter one: Introduction and Background of the study……………………………..1 Preamble…………………………………………………………………………………..1 The Rural Santal Community……………………………………………………………..2 The Colonial Legacy: Land Dispossession………………………………………………..4 Education and Language…………………………………………………………………..7 Education policy…………………………………………………………………………..7 Language policy…………………………………………………………………………...9 Religion: The Civilizing Mission ………………………………………………………..11 Why Colonialism? Historical and Social Perspectives ………………………………… 12 Domination and Marginalization ………………………………………………………..14 The Construction of the Adivasis ……………………………………………………….16 Nationalism ……………………………………………………………………………...17 Bangladeshi Nationalism, the Nation State Bangladesh and the Issue of Re-colonization