You are on page 1of 3

A Long View of Bangladesh social and economic problems including

that of internal and cross-national ecologi-


cal refugees. The impact of dual dynamics
of the environment has been so immense
Iftekhar Iqbal that the author remains inconclusive about
whether the delta was headed for boom

W book review
illem van Schendel’s A History or bust (p 250).
of Bangladesh is an ambitious
project to relate the multiple A History of Bangladesh by Willem van Schendel Failures of the Young State
stories of Bangladesh from the pre-historic (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 2009; Although Schendel usefully refers to re-
pp xxvi-347, $24.99.
period to the present (2007). The author gional political developments in the pre-
clarifies in the introduction that it is colonial times, his narratives of political
intended for “general readers and for literature on Bangladesh. The book has 22 dynamics take clear edges in the colonial
students who are beginning to study the chapters arranged under five parts: “The and post-colonial periods. Drawn on more
subject”. If this heuristic limit of the book Long View”, “Colonial Encounters”, “Becom- recent historical researches, his observa-
is kept in mind, one finds it quite compre- ing East Pakistan” “War and the Birth of tions on major political events take a ma-
hensive. There is hardly anything to disa- Bangladesh” and “Independent Bangladesh”. terialist perspective that stands between
gree with about the narratives in the Between the chapters the author touches nationalist and apologetic interpretations
book. Yet, it deserves critical attention on subjects ranging from geolo­gical for- of history. For example, he suggests that
and engagement in terms of the context mation to culinary practices. Of the myri- the east Bengalis opted for Pakistan not
in which the book has been written and ad issues, themes, observations and analy- primarily because of a shared religion, but
some of the important observations the sis that this book accommodates, four with a view to getting rid of economic ex-
author has made. broad categories are discer­nible: eco­logy, ploitation under a landed elite who hap-
Despite the remarkable growth of south politics, economy and culture. The author pened to be Hindu. Unlike the Hindu com-
Asian studies over the past few decades, sees remarkable dynamism in each of this munalists, however, the Muslim League
Bangladesh has received relatively limited category from a perspective of “frontier”. did not strive for a division in Bengal:
attention in the global academia, both in In other words, the Bengal delta which “Certainly, it wanted to create a homeland
terms of its specific historical trajectory corresponds to today’s Bangladesh is pre- for Muslims – but its vision of Pakistan
and contemporary salience. A History of sented here not only as a geographical inclu­ded all of Bengal. It was Congress
Bangladesh is perhaps the first of its kind frontier, but also as a cultural and economic that insisted upon the division of Bengal
of book that brings such a long span of time one through which the region’s historical in order to eliminate the Muslim League
within its covers. In terms of the scholarly developments can be best appreciated. from India’s post-independence political
studies on Bangladesh history generated Ecology is a key point of reference for A equation” (p 93). Similarly, in the Pakistan
within the country, there are a number of History of Bangladesh, which is reflected period, economic well-being was far more
useful works, but most of them are edited in the author’s use of the term Bengal delta important to the peasant than division of
and encyclopaedic in nature. A­lthough interchangeably with Bangladesh. Ecology state power or questions of language and
these volumes accommodate useful articles in the book does not come as mere prelude religion (p 116). But the Bengali elite and
and chapters they do not offer a cohe­rent to social, political or economic history, but the middle class had a different demand.
narrative of the dynamics of long-term as a dynamic ingredient to the broader They did not have a sense of owning the
transformation. At the same time, a major­ historical developments in the country. post-1947 state (pp 116-17), and hence aspi­
ity of the existing literature is pervaded by The author meticulously describes how red for the institutional framework of
some form or the other of nationalist senti- ecology has been playing both formative power, e g, through the six-point move-
ment. A History of Bangladesh offers a (in the form of vast extensive water re- ment of the Awami League that, according
c­oherent and refreshingly broader account gime, silt-driven fertilisation process, bio- to Schendel “did not envisage social
of the country’s historical developments. diversity, transport and so on) and de- change”. This “socially middle-of-the-road
structive role for the region (cyclones, or conservative” approach of the Awami
Geology, Cuisine, Ecology flooding, climate change and some League, therefore, was not compatible
The book comes from a scholar who has environ­mental problems linked to direct with the more radical approach of the far
engaged with the study of the region’s his- human intervention, such as pathogen left about the role of the state (p 123). Al-
tory, society and culture for more than water pollution, arsenic and adverse im- though in the context of the liberation war
three decades and that has resulted in the pact of the Farakka barrage built inside of 1971 the 11-point demands of the radical
publication of dozens of books and arti- India). High density of population in a student fronts, who were “ahead” of the
cles. The author uses his personal experi- small country like Bangladesh with eco- estab­lished political order, were placed
ence and expertise as well as major existing logical constraints has led to numerous along with the six-point demand, the
32 august 22, 2009  vol xliv no 34  EPW   Economic & Political Weekly
book Review

failure of the Awami League to form a “inept, indifferent and heartless” by 1974 ground” turned out to be too chauvinistic
national govern­ment after independence when a famine killed more than 1.5 million to call for blending of all non-Bengali
widened the gap between the state and people, and when an almost similar ethnic identities with broader Bengali
the broad political spectrum. This contin- number of lives were lost during Bangla- nationhood. In this context, Schendel
ues to inform political instability in Bang- desh’s liberation war (p 81), these qualifi- compares Sheikh Mujibur Rahman with
ladesh today. It is precisely this earlier fail- cations are not entirely inappropriate to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who, as the found-
ure of the state, rather than any specific describe the Bangladeshi state today. The ing leader of the independent nation state
ideo­logical pitfall, to catch up with the only remarkably efficient entity that has of Bangladesh and Pakistan, respectively,
popular thrust for well-being and social emerged in the public sphere has been the wanted to impose dominant lingua-cultural
justice that gave way to the military rule non-governmental organisations (NGOs); hegemony on all citizens of the nation
which remains a potential and some- but, as Schendel notes, not as much as lib- state irrespective of their cultural beliefs
times direct threat to political players. In erating forces as creators of a “state within and practices (pp 184-85). Despite such
this context, Schendel concludes that the state” that nourish themselves and whose cultural controversies forged around the
1970s were a replay of the 1950s (p 195). fortunes are not matched by those of their formation of an abstract homogeneous
This may even be true of the situations millions of clients (pp 221-22). Despite a nation state, as Schendel graphically
in Pakistan and Bangladesh at this point little upward shift in social development shows, today’s Bangladesh presents a
of the 21st century. sectors such as adult literacy and gender cauldron of cultural diversity.
For Schendel, the economy of the region parity in primary education, the broader
took a dramatic downturn following the socio-economic field remains shattered. Legacy of Resilience
British takeover. He thinks that the battle Remarkable urbanisation is taking place There are certain issues that the author
of Polashi (1757), due to which the British mostly around the capital city of Dhaka, has raised, but which I feel demanded a lit-
created their initial stronghold in south but, as the author indicates, these are not tle more critical treatment. First, Schendel
Asia, was not a watershed in Bengal his­tory, signs of thriving industrial development, seems to be a bit too sensitive to intra-
but a continuity of Mughal imperial legacy but the agronomic failure to offer even regional cultural differences. For instance,
(pp 49-50). Yet, by noting that the British subsistence to a large number of rural- he points out that “even today clashes be-
used the Bengal riches to conquer the en- dwellers. No wonder this cosmetic urbani- tween Sanskritic and non-Sanskritic can
tire subcontinent, the author speaks of a sation is bound to lead to a phenomena be observed in Bangladesh’s culture and
pre-colonial longue durée economic autar- that Schendel terms as “bursting at the even territorially in eastern Bangladesh”
ky in the region. A vibrant domestic and seams” (pp 237-39). or that east Bangladesh is more puritani-
international trade, and a dynamic agron- At a time when Aryan (“Sanskritic”, to cal than west Bangladesh (pp 20, 38). Such
omy even under the huge imperial tax use the author’s Bengali phrasing) cul­tu­ observations may have to be taken cautio­
burden from the Mughals only began to ral influence began to finally come to usly. The relatively puritan “Ahl-e-Hadith”
decline in colonial times. A semi-feudal terms with the pre-Aryan cultural domain movement, a faction of which is consi­
economy, unremunerative commerciali- by the 11th century, Islam had already dered to be linked with the terrorist
sation and exploitation through the Per- a­rrived in the deltaic shore and more re- organi­sation the Jama’atul Mujahideen
manent Settlement made the prospect markably so in the 13th century. Although Bangladesh (JMB), has the strongest roots
of Pakistan attractive to the emerging the author does not make it explicit, his in northern Bangladesh. Second, it would
middle class as well as the peasantry. But narratives seem to suggest that much of have been useful if the author had made a
Pakistan failed to address the economic the contemporary cultural salience with broader assessment of the environmental
aspirations of the people. Although the all its plurality in Bangladesh derives from movement which has, so far, failed to
Permanent Settlement was abolished in the engagement and contestations among grasp the deep environmental dynamics
the 1950s, sharecroppers were still denied these tripartite cultural relations. But un- of agrarian Bangladesh in general. Third,
any right to land, turning more than like many narratives of Bengali cultural the author refers to Monga (seasonal food
20% of the landless into wage labourers history, Schendel secures particular place insecurity) in terms of internal migration
by 1960. Foreign aid-driven modernisa- for the ethnic non-Bengalis such as the that has been caused by it, but not with res­
tion failed to make things any better, Chakmas, who live mostly in the peripheral pect to the problem of starvation at a time
rather it led to a flourishing coterie of hilly tracts. These groups did not convert when rice production has increased at the
aid-addicted elite and non-mobilisation to Islam nor did Islam climb the hills (p 3). aggregate level. Fourth, in terms of the
of internal resources. Through their political struggle against cultural diversity, the author has remarked
It was no wonder then that an inde- the Hindu and the Urdu-speaking Muslim that the “emergence of Bengali as the
pendent Bangladesh would emerge on the elites in the colonial and Pakistan periods lingua-franca and then as a mother tongue
wing of a second utopia. But, as Schendel respectively, the people of Bangladesh, was very uneven”. He argues that not
has shown very clearly, some of the macro- Schendel suggests, were able to strike a e­veryone in Bangladesh speaks or under-
economic tendencies have continued to middle ground between Indian and Paki- stands Bengali, particularly some of the
haunt independent Bangladesh until today. stani cultural domination. Yet following communities living in the hilly regions.
If the Bangladesh government stood as the birth of Bangladesh, the “middle From the perspective of the chauvinistic
Economic & Political Weekly  EPW   august 22, 2009  vol xliv no 34 33
book Review

Bengali cultural nationalism, the author’s the emerging literature also, a trend has much of the inst­ability resulting from
comments are understandable. But even developed that mimics the literary forms political, economic and social problems
though this may be too harsh a verdict, and style used by so-called liberal secular in modern times originated in colonial
the language’s predominance in the region writers, but remains discursive about sec- times and got new colou­rings in the Paki-
has not always been perpetuated by the ular or religious ethos. stan period. Some of the trends continue
ruling and hegemonic power. Bengali has Apart from these minor shortcomings, in contemporary Bangladesh: military
its own subaltern ethos and locale. Fifth, which arise more from the scope of the threats, social inequity, lack of governance
the author has rightly observed that the book than from the author’s oversight, and so on.
failure of Bangladesh’s first leaders to de- Willem van Schendel offers an excellent Yet, Schendel does not concur with
liver on their dreams has weakened the synthesis of myriad issues and develop- many contemporary observers that Bang-
appeal of their vernacular model, a mix of ments that have shaped Bangladesh. If ladesh is a failed state. He suggests that
the refinement embodied in the colonial the broader angle that the author takes is “from uncertain beginnings and through
gentlefolk (bhodrolok) and popular Ben- understood well, it would seem that the many permutations, the state has grown
gali ways. Schendel, therefore, sees the pre-colonial times he brings under “long and strengthened its control over the
rise of a new generation of “mofussolisa- view” of the region facing the Indian Bengal delta” and that “today’s inhabit-
tion” in which local mafias (mostans) thrive Ocean via the Bay of Bengal is like a ants of the Bengal delta cope – often
(pp  251-2). This is an interesting and real mini-Mediterranean a la Braudel. It is in m­agnificently – by bringing into play a
observation. But this is perhaps more a this pre-colonial setting, that the bound- flexible, upbeat resilience that is one of
manifestation of sharper patron-client re- ary between romantic and nationalist the region’s most valuable historical lega-
lationship than that of cultural dynamics vision blurs. To the author, the colonial cies” (pp 218, 269). The strength of the
of which the author has made an exciting and post-colonial times are a category book lies in the author’s insightful discov-
assessment. Sixth, at the cultural frontier, broadly different from the “long view”, ery, by wading through both long and
the “new Islamic sensibility” is perhaps which convey a general sense of economic short-term historical steams, of the bright-
more nuanced than just opposed to secu- and social autarky. While existing literature er sides of a nation that looks in many
lar-liberal cultural manifestations. For in- would hardly speak otherwise, I would ways doomed, while clearly showing the
stance, some of the most popular albums have enjo­yed less sharp qualifications hollowness of the rhetoric of nationalism.
by the younger generation of artists seem of historical trajectories on both sides
to contain one or two religious songs. In of the temporal fence. Understandably Email: iftekhar.iqbal@gmail.com

Sage AD

34 august 22, 2009  vol xliv no 34  EPW   Economic & Political Weekly

You might also like