Books
Bangladesh
Towards the New Horizon
Sanyat
Sattar
Art
and Life in Bangladesh
Henry Glassie
Indiana University Press; November 1997
It's unfortunate
that most people associate Bangladesh with starvation, natural
disasters, and political turmoil, as if this region of the
world existed in a perpetual state of emergency. It is true
that life in Bangladesh is not easy--there are crop failures,
typhoons, and political unrest--but there is also a long and
rich tradition of art, ranging from the potter's craft to
amazing works of painting, engraving, weaving, sculpture,
metalwork, and more. In Art and Life in Bangladesh, Henry
Glassie, a professor of folklore at Indiana University, introduces
readers to the people of Bangladesh through their artwork.
But Glassie's book is not a coffee-table volume filled with
gorgeous images and a thin trickle of print; rather, art is
simply the medium by which he guides the reader through the
history, culture, and community of this small land situated
on the world's widest delta. Glassie is not content merely
to survey Bangladeshi art; instead, he introduces readers
to individual artists, allowing each of them to speak at length
about his or her work and motivation. It soon becomes clear
that in Bangladesh, art and everyday life are inextricably
linked. Photographs are liberally sprinkled throughout the
text--if only some of them were in color. Perhaps with Art
and Life in Bangladesh, Glassie, who has performed similar
ethnographic marvels in books about Irish and Turkish art,
will help promote a more positive image of this ancient land.
Women
and Islam in Bangladesh
Taj I. Hashmi
Palgrave Macmillan; May 2000
In this
fascinating book, Taj I. Hashmi takes a long historical view
of the position of women in society in general and that of
Muslim women under Islam in particular. He argues that women
have been under male domination in all societies ever since
the days of Socrates and that this is not particular to Islam
or Muslim societies. Then he explores how women in urban and
rural Bangladesh are persecuted at the behest of the self-proclaimed
custodians of Islam or mullahs. NGOs active in the country
are also not free from the accusation of exploiting women
in the name of empowering them. Nor has militant feminism
done much good to the cause of their liberation. The author
finds hope in the work of a large body of educated Bangladesh
men and women in eradicating not only poverty but also illiteracy
and religious fanaticism as a surer way to women's liberation
from male domination.
Needless
Hunger
James Boyce and Betsy Hartmann
Food First; 1999 (reprint edition)
Why is
a country with some of the world's most fertile land also
the home of so many hungry people? The authors of this book
spent two years in Bangladesh investigating the paradox of
hunger in a "basketcase" country which actually
produces enough grain for its people already. Boyce and Hartmann,
Bengali-speaking anthropologists, not only trace the history
and structure of Bangladesh society, they also draw us into
the daily lives of the people of Katni, the village where
they lived. "There is no natural barrier to the satisfaction
of the basic human needs of Bangladesh's people," they
conclude. "But there is the man-made barrier of a social
order which benefits a few at the expense of the many."
The foreign aid which pours into the country actually entrenches
the very elite which keeps the majority powerless and hungry,
they found. Needless Hunger is also a book of hope which describes
the strength and potential of the Bangladesh people and their
desire for a society in which food-producing resources are
controlled by the majority.
Copyright (R)
thedailystar.net 2004
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