Pursuing Alternative Development: Indigenous People, Ethnic Organization and Agency

154 Pages·2015·3.67 MB·English

by  M. Saiful Islam (auth.)

Pursuing Alternative Development
DOI: 10.1057/9781137572103.0001
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DOI: 10.1057/9781137572103.0001
Pursuing Alternative
Development:
Indigenous People,
Ethnic Organization
and Agency
M. Saiful Islam
Assistant Professor
Department of Development Studies
University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
DOI: 10.1057/9781137572103.0001
© M. Saiful Islam 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st 2015 978-1-137-57209-7
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
Saff ron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Th e author has asserted his right to be identifi ed as the author of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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ISBN: 978-1-137-57210-3 PDF
ISBN: 978-1-349-57024-9
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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www.palgrave.com/pivot
doi: 10.1057/9781137572103
Contents
List of Illustrations vi
List of Photographs vii
Acknowledgments viii
List of Abbreviations x
1 Introduction: Rethinking Orthodox
Development 1
2 NGOs and Development Practices 28
3 Promoting Economic Livelihood 47
4 Educating the Indigenous People 75
5 Striving for Social Justice 94
6 Ethnic Organization and Alternative
Development: Possibilities and Challenges 113
References 127
Index 137
DOI: 10.1057/9781137572103.0001 v
List of Illustrations
Figures
2.1 Approaches of Prochesta in mobilizing
indigenous people 41
3.1 Processes of forming a village-based samiti 65
Tables
3.1 A typical input–output calculation from
agriculture 58
3.2 Average net benefit from sharecropping 58
3.3 Food sufficiency among the sampled Santal
households in Bangladesh 59
3.4 Savings and the use of loan by the samiti
members 67
4.1 Educational levels of the sampled Santal
households 77
vi DOI: 10.1057/9781137572103.0002
List of Photographs
3.1 Bullock as the major means of tilling lands 51
3.2 Modern tractors are recently introduced 51
3.3 Transplanting paddy 53
3.4 Small shop to support economic livelihood 63
3.5 Plying vutvuti to supplement household
income 63
3.6 Microcredit program of Prochesta 66
4.1 Indigenous students in a Prochesta-run
school 89
5.1 Mass gathering: a non-violent protest
against discrimination 104
DOI: 10.1057/9781137572103.0003 vii
Acknowledgments
The time spent in writing, reviewing, and revising this
book has witnessed a number of changes in my profes-
sion as a faculty member in a number of universities in
Bangladesh and Brunei. I am thus indebted to a number
of persons and institutions all over. I fear to acknowledge
any particular individual if it overlooks many others
who contributed to this initiative. I express my deepest
gratitude to Dr A.H.M. Zehadul Karim, Professor in the
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, International
Islamic University Malaysia who continuously encour-
aged, urged, and supported me to complete this book. Any
expression in words would undoubtedly be inadequate to
convey my gratitude to him. Many thanks to Dr A.K.M.
Ahsan Ullah, Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences, University Brunei Darussalam, who immensely
inspired me to publish this manuscript and helped me in
many ways without which this manuscript perhaps would
not have been in its present form. I am also thankful to Dr.
Sarbeswar Sahoo, Assistant Professor at IIT-Delhi, for his
suggestions and recommendations on this manuscript. I
appreciate his forbearance and congruency on the ways we
discussed and debated issues such as NGOs, development
discourse, and civil society. I acknowledge the faculty
members of the sociology and anthropology program,
University Brunei Darussalam, and the faculty members
of the Department of Development Studies, University
of Dhaka for their continuous support and constructive
comments on this manuscript. At Palgrave Macmillan, I
convey my sincere gratitude and thanks to Christina M.
viii DOI: 10.1057/9781137572103.0004
Acknowledgments ix
Brian and Ambra Finotello who continuously supported me from the
very beginning of this book project. I appreciate their utmost profes-
sionalism. It was also a wonderful experience working with Vidhya
Jayaprakash and her team at Newgen Knowledge Works, and their
assistance is highly accredited.
My most profound debt is to my informants who accepted and
accommodated me, and also allowed me to be a part of their everyday
life during the fieldwork. The executive director and staff members of
the ethnic organization helped me a lot in providing information, shar-
ing their experience, and learning the way they understand and practice
development. My sincere thanks are due to them. This endeavor would
only be fruitful, if it helps in any way for the betterment of these poor,
socially excluded, highly deprived, and oppressed indigenous peoples of
the studied area.
My family has always been a source of inspiration, encouragement,
and strength. I am grateful to my parents who, despite a lot of economic
difficulties, helped me continue my study and taught me to dream.
Without their contribution, it would have been simply impossible for me
to reach at a status which I am holding now. Nila, my wife, has also been
a constant source of my strength doing everything she could to make
this project successful. It is her continuous push and care that enabled
me to complete this manuscript despite many repulsive constraints and
other involvements. My warmest gratitude is to her whose care sustained
me throughout.
DOI: 10.1057/9781137572103.0004