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Towards a Mobile Indigeneity? The Case of Indigenous Students from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Visser, Jacco (2015) ACET35
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis was to examine how increased mobility of indigenous student migrants in Dhaka from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh affects notions of belonging and indigeneity. By applying a theoretical framework of mobility, global interconnectedness and lifestyle the study challenged representations by indigenous rights advocates of indigenous people as inherently immobile and rooted in peripheral lands. The findings are based on two periods of fieldwork in Dhaka from June through August 2014 and from February through March 2015, during which I employed participant observation and held thirty-eight interviews with indigenous students. The data collected illustrate the need to rethink indigenous identities and activism... (More)
The purpose of this thesis was to examine how increased mobility of indigenous student migrants in Dhaka from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh affects notions of belonging and indigeneity. By applying a theoretical framework of mobility, global interconnectedness and lifestyle the study challenged representations by indigenous rights advocates of indigenous people as inherently immobile and rooted in peripheral lands. The findings are based on two periods of fieldwork in Dhaka from June through August 2014 and from February through March 2015, during which I employed participant observation and held thirty-eight interviews with indigenous students. The data collected illustrate the need to rethink indigenous identities and activism and to acknowledge indigenous identity against the backdrop of social change and increasing access to global imaginaries in Bangladesh. The study particularly demonstrates how demands for cultural recognition, as often put forward by indigenous advocates, are problematic due to their neglect of representation issues and class differences among indigenous people. Furthermore, the mobility experiences and aspirations of indigenous students challenge popular, activist and scholarly representations of indigeneity as static, unchangeable and rooted in peripheral lands. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Visser, Jacco
supervisor
organization
course
ACET35
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
mobility, Chittagong Hill Tracts, indigeneity, Bangladesh
language
English
id
7766123
date added to LUP
2015-08-21 16:06:35
date last changed
2015-08-21 16:06:35
@misc{7766123,
  abstract     = {{The purpose of this thesis was to examine how increased mobility of indigenous student migrants in Dhaka from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh affects notions of belonging and indigeneity. By applying a theoretical framework of mobility, global interconnectedness and lifestyle the study challenged representations by indigenous rights advocates of indigenous people as inherently immobile and rooted in peripheral lands. The findings are based on two periods of fieldwork in Dhaka from June through August 2014 and from February through March 2015, during which I employed participant observation and held thirty-eight interviews with indigenous students. The data collected illustrate the need to rethink indigenous identities and activism and to acknowledge indigenous identity against the backdrop of social change and increasing access to global imaginaries in Bangladesh. The study particularly demonstrates how demands for cultural recognition, as often put forward by indigenous advocates, are problematic due to their neglect of representation issues and class differences among indigenous people. Furthermore, the mobility experiences and aspirations of indigenous students challenge popular, activist and scholarly representations of indigeneity as static, unchangeable and rooted in peripheral lands.}},
  author       = {{Visser, Jacco}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Towards a Mobile Indigeneity? The Case of Indigenous Students from the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Dhaka, Bangladesh}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}