Indigenous People of the Chittagong Hill Tracts

This article attempts an insight into the power of the powerless people which they employ for their survival where their lifeways have been threatened by the dominant cultures. Based on several ethnographic studies, it shows that the powerless people who do not take arms against the dominant cultures employ cultural resistance. In light of this view, the article focuses on the ethnographic work of the author, where the Toungsa Pahari, powerless indigenous people, employ several strategies for their survival. Juxtaposed with reluctant disposition, they employ cultural resistance in order to survive in the hard environment of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, endangered by the outsiders (Bangali settlers).

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Conflicting Issues and Challenges Related to Common Property Management and Customary Rights of the Indigenous People of Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.2004106 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Monjurul Ahsan

Keyword(s):

Indigenous People ◽

Common Property ◽

Property Management ◽

Chittagong Hill Tracts ◽

Customary Rights

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Conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh: An Unimplemented Accord and Continued Violence

Asian Survey ◽

10.1525/as.2009.49.6.1052 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 49 (6) ◽

pp. 1052-1070 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Pranab Kumar Panday ◽

Ishtiaq Jamil

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Law Enforcement ◽

Indigenous People ◽

Chittagong Hill Tracts ◽

Top Down ◽

Law Enforcement Agencies ◽

Peace Accord

This article analyzes the dynamics of the conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh. This study argues that violations of human rights by law enforcement agencies and Bangali settlers against indigenous people continue even after the signing of the 1997 peace accord. Furthermore, peace remains elusive because of the "top-down" nature of that accord.

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Development and Culture in the Context of Chittagong Hill Tracts (Cht), Bangladesh

Social Science Review ◽

10.3329/ssr.v37i2.56507 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 87-103

Author(s):

Sabiha Yeasmin Rosy

Keyword(s):

Indigenous People ◽

Indigenous Peoples ◽

Development Planning ◽

Development Project ◽

Development Projects ◽

Chittagong Hill Tracts ◽

Post Conflict ◽

Military Presence ◽

History Of ◽

The Government

This paper aims to understand the background of development and draws a link to culture in the context of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) - a post conflict region – to explore how the dispossession and commercialisation of culture in development planning is processing tension between different actors by reviewing secondary literature. The Indigenous people of Bangladesh have a longstanding history of struggle to achieve self-determination due to their institutional reference as ‘tribes’ or ‘ethnic minorities’. Denial of Indigenous peoples’ identity contributes to their discrimination and violation within the existing development concerns. The specific structural regulations and resource mobilization activities resulting from institutions – government, military, and powerful individuals - in areas inhabited by Indigenous people reflect the asymmetrical relations between Indigenous peoples and Bangalee actors. The conflict started in this region with the mobilization of ethnic majority Bangalee through the settlement programs in 1970s as a part of ‘development’ project, which later created tensions in this region due to the exploitation of people, land, and culture. As the government and ongoing military presence greatly shape ‘development’ for local people, the power relations between different actors facilitate the various forms of exploitative development projects. In addition, the ignorance towards integration of culture in development projects results in imposing threats to Indigenous peoples’ lives, livelihoods, and access to resources. This paper focuses on the economic expansions in this region from modernist perspectives drawing the example of tourism development in the CHT, which can marginalize and exploit Indigenous people in the making of ‘development’, Social Science Review, Vol. 37(2), Dec 2020 Page 87-103

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Inclusive Constitutionalism and the Indigenous People of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh

The Indian Yearbook of Comparative Law 2016 ◽

10.1093/oso/9780199482139.003.0010 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 217-248

Author(s):

Ridwanul Hoque

Keyword(s):

National Identity ◽

Ethnic Groups ◽

Indigenous People ◽

Genetic Defect ◽

Constitutional Amendment ◽

Chittagong Hill Tracts ◽

Indigenous Identity ◽

Constitutional Patriotism ◽

Central Argument

Based on a majoritarian notion of national identity and ‘constitutional patriotism’, Bangladesh’s Constitution of 1972 refuted the indigenous identity claims. Subsequent developments have somewhat addressed, albeit inadequately, the concerns of injustice arising from this exclusion. Examining the constitutional and judicial narratives, the chapter analyses the legal specialty of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and its demand for constitutional recognition from the perspective of inclusive constitutionalism. The central argument is that exclusion of diverse ethnic groups during the founding moment constituted a genetic defect in the Bangladesh constitution, which is not yet fully removed, though the recent constitutional amendment signals a change in the state’s hegemonic attitude. Adoption of an accommodationist approach by Bangladesh towards the indigenous people, ensuring a meaningful inclusion of Chittagong Hill Tracts people within the unitary constitutional framework, is both possible and a constitutional imperative.

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Political ecology of the degradation of forest commons in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Environmental Conservation ◽

10.1017/s0376892907003888 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 153-163 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

GOLAM RASUL

Keyword(s):

Political Ecology ◽

Indigenous People ◽

Agricultural Practices ◽

Forest Degradation ◽

Forest Resources ◽

Rubber Plantation ◽

Chittagong Hill Tracts ◽

History Of ◽

Control And Management ◽

External Intervention

Indigenous people have widely been blamed for degrading South Asia's montane forest resources through the practice of shifting cultivation, yet some studies have revealed that indigenous people used forests in a sustainable way for centuries until external intervention. The history of external intervention in the forests of South Asia is more than two centuries old. The process of degradation of forest resources requires understanding of the political and social processes that condition access, control and management of the land and resources involved. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, a part of the Himalayan region, underwent essentially the same socio-political and historical processes as many other countries in the region and had very similar experiences in forest management. By examination of policies and associated effects on CHT forest over the past two centuries, this paper reveals that the process of forest degradation in the CHT started during the British colonial period with the nationalization of forests, establishment of reserve forests (RFs), management of forests by government agencies and weakening of traditional institutions. The process of degradation was accelerated by: privatization of forest land for the promotion of sedentary agriculture, horticulture and rubber plantation; the construction of a hydraulic dam on the Karnafuli River; the settlement of lowland people; and the constant conflict between indigenous people and the Forest Department. The degradation of CHT forests is not only the result of traditional agricultural practices, but also of many other factors including inappropriate policies and programmes.

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