Revisiting geographies of nationalism and national identity in Bangladesh
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Revisiting geographies of nationalism and national identity in Bangladesh Tulshi Kumar Das . Rituparna Bhattacharyya
. Pranjit Kumar Sarma
Accepted: 17 September 2020 Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract On 15 August 1947, the subcontinent of undivided India was partitioned into India and Pakistan (West and East Pakistan) using the twonation theory. However, approximately 24 years after, Bangladesh was carved out of East Pakistan. The key purpose of this study is to revisit the geographies of nationalism and national identity in Bangladesh, which emerged at the cost of colossal sacrifice during its 1971 Liberation War against Pakistani forces when its people derived gargantuan inspiration from ‘creole nationalism’ stemming from their language and culture. There is a severe dearth of literature by geographers on nationalism in Bangladesh. Hence, this study deploys a collage of both rich and grey literature from interdisciplinary subjects, including geography. Following the independence of Bangladesh, Bengali
T. K. Das Department of Social Work, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh e-mail: [email protected] R. Bhattacharyya (&) Space and Culture, India and in Teaching and Development, Alliance for Community Capacity Building in North EastIndia, 57, Newington Drive, North Shields NE29 9JA, United Kingdom e-mail: [email protected]
nationalism and Bengali identity were enshrined in the Constitution. Nevertheless, both nationalism and national identity based on ‘creole nationalism’ were shifted within four years of the Liberation War and were transformed into Bangladeshi nationalism and Bangladeshi national identity. This new nationalism was a product of the renewed form of ‘two-nation theory’, separating Bangladeshis from other Bengalis, especially those living in the state of West Bengal, India. Besides, Bangladeshi nationalism emphasized ‘Muslim identity’ of Bengali Muslim instead of Bengali identity. Although the current Awami League government has reinstated Bengali nationalism into the Constitution, the false dichotomy between Bengali and Bangladeshi constructed by the ruling elites continues in current Bangladesh. Bengali language and culture are an integral part of independent Bangladesh. Simultaneously, Muslim identity and the identity of the indigenous population remains intrinsic in the current context of the country. This study argues that geographies of inclusiveness remain paramount in addressing nationalism and national identity in Bangladesh. Keywords Nationalism National identity Liberation war Bengali Two-nation theory Bangladesh
P. K. Sarma Department of Geography, Mangaldoi College, Mangaldoi, District, Darrang, Assam 784125, India e-mail: [email protected]
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