The Hindu as Other: State, Law, and Land Relations in Contemporary Bangladesh

Constructing religious difference as a national security threat, the Vested Property Act, whose legacy dates from the period of East Pakistan, marks Bangladeshi Hindus as citizens whose allegiance to the country is always suspect. This paper explores the social production of Hindu difference through...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inSouth Asia multidisciplinary academic journal Vol. 13; no. 13
Main Author Feldman, Shelley
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Association pour la recherche sur l'Asie du Sud (ARAS) 22.04.2016
Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud
Subjects
Bangladesh
dispossession
land grab
law
social rights
subjection
social rights
Bangladesh
subjection
law
dispossession
land grab
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Constructing religious difference as a national security threat, the Vested Property Act, whose legacy dates from the period of East Pakistan, marks Bangladeshi Hindus as citizens whose allegiance to the country is always suspect. This paper explores the social production of Hindu difference through legal claims to the right to private property. I draw on shifting policy reforms to show how land rights and the control of private property, embedded in historical, social, political, and cultural relations, shape the security of people and their subjectivity. I argue that constructions of Hindu identity are marked by particular relations of social inclusion that are consequential for enacting rights claims in the interests of private accumulation.
ISSN:1960-6060
1960-6060
DOI:10.4000/samaj.4111