Noorhaidi Hasan
Book synopsis: The Indian Ocean was global long before the Atlantic, and today the countries bordering the Bay of Bengal—India, Bangladesh, Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia—are home to one in four people on Earth. Crossing the Bay of Bengal places this region at the heart of world history fo...
Pnina Werbner, Helene Basu
The continued vitality of Sufism as a living embodied postcolonial reality challenges the argument that Sufism has 'died' in recent times. Throughout India and Bangladesh, Sufi shrines exist in both the rural and urban areas, from the remotest wilderness to the modern Asian city, lying opposite bank...
Naseem Akhter Hussain
Mark R. Thompson
t is striking how often, over the last decade-and-a-half, women have led successful popular uprisings against dictatorships in Asia. Corazon C. Aquino in the Philippines (1986), Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan (1988), Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina Wajed in Bangladesh (1990) and Megawati Sukarnoputri in I...
Simon Dein, Malcolm Alexander, A. David Napier
This study examines understandings of misfortune among east London Bangladeshis, particularly with respect to the role of jinn spirits. It reports on the findings of ethnographic interviews among 40 members of this community. Appeal to jinn explanations is commonplace at times of psychological distu...
John F. Richards, Elizabeth P. Flint
This data base contains estimates of land use change and the carbon content of vegetation for South and Southeast Asia for the years 1880, 1920, 1950, 1970, and 1980. These data were originally collected for climate modelers so they could reduce the uncertainty associated with the magnitude and time...
Ali Riaz
Research Article| August 01 2003 "God Willing": The Politics and Ideology of Islamism in Bangladesh ALI RIAZ ALI RIAZ Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (2003) 23 (1-2): 301–320. https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-23...
Jasmin Lorch
While the literature on democratic backsliding has not yet systematically investigated how civil society influences backsliding processes, it generally assumes that civil society organizations (CSOs) act as a counter to democratic backsliding. This article contests this assumption by showing that, d...
Adnan Hossain
Abstract Hijra, the icon of sex/gender non-conformism in South Asia, are “male-bodied” people who identify as female and sacrifice their male genitals to a goddess in return for spiritual prowess. While hijra draw on a narrative tradition that creatively mingles Hinduism and Islam, scholars suggest ...
Akhand Akhtar Hossain
This paper provides a historical overview of the emerging post-Islamist phenomenon in the Muslim world and discusses the scope for sustainable democratic politics in Bangladesh. In the process, a model is proposed that purports to exhibit a level of compatibility with the perceived political landsca...
Mohamad Abdun Nasir
Slametan, referring to a broad communal prayer, feast, and food-offering to commemorate or celebrate critical live cycles, such as birth, marriage, and death, constitutes an essential ritual for Javanese Muslims. Despite growing Islamization, in which this ritual is often renamed as tahlilan, elemen...
Naila Kabeer
This chapter examines the complex interactions between religion and culture in constructing definitions of national identity in Bangladesh and in shaping the political projects of recent regimes. It also attempts to throw light on certain features which differentiate current Islamisation processes i...
Naomi Hossain
The devastating Bhola cyclone in November 1970 is credited with having triggered the political events that led to the division of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. A callous response to the disaster by the Pakistani regime resulted in a landslide electoral victory for Bengali national...
List of contributors Acknowledgements 1. Islam and Politics Shahram Akbarzadeh and Abdullah Saeed 2. The official ulema and religious legitimacy of the modern nation state Abdullah Saeed 3. Saudi Arabia: Re-reading politics and religion in the wake of September 11 Larbi Sadiki 4. The politics of ref...