In Bangladesh and globally, microcredit has been recognized as a key development tool in the alle... more In Bangladesh and globally, microcredit has been recognized as a key development tool in the alleviation of poverty. Many international development agencies and donor countries prioritize microcredit to alleviate poverty because of reported success stories of microcredit nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in mobilizing poor women to participate in incomegenerating activities. Microcredit NGOs construct success stories of alleviating poverty and gender equity in relation to the repayment rate, but little is known about how they deploy strategies to collect loan installments from borrowers. Using ethnographic data collected in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, I examine how microcredit NGOs create unequal power relations between fieldworkers and borrowers to facilitate secure loan recovery. Reflecting on the women's experiences with microcredit programs, I demonstrate how these microcredit NGOs impose the provision of group liabilities, a ‘forced choice,’ upon the ...
Abstract: 'Globalization' -a term that entered popular discourse in the late 1980s has ce... more Abstract: 'Globalization' -a term that entered popular discourse in the late 1980s has certainly been become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of the new millennium. The nature and impact of globalization has been the subject matter of profound debates and concerns in economic, political, cultural studies and academic circles since the mid-1990s. However, mainstream economic thought promises that globalization would lift the poor above poverty, dissolve dictatorship, protect the environment, integrate cultures, and reverse the growing gap between rich and poor countries of the world. But in reality, globalization has brought about the devastating destruction of the traditions, the continued subordination of poorer nations and regions by richer countries of the west, environmental degradation, and posed a serious threat to indigenous and non-western cultures and economies. The globalization has resulted in the penetration and expansion of western food, film, clothing, mus...
During the 1990s, microcredit, also known as "microfinance," received global recognition as an ef... more During the 1990s, microcredit, also known as "microfinance," received global recognition as an effective social and economic development tool from major international development institutions and donor agencies, including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. The incorporation of microcredit into local and global development approaches was based on the core neoliberal ideology that the poor's participation in microcredit would eventually enable them to achieve economic self-reliance and that it would remove constraints of gender injustice. Over the last decade, many empirical studies on microcredit program impacts have been conducted across the globe. These studies produce contrasting scenarios: one group of studies claim that microcredit has a revolutionary effect in the alleviation of poverty and in the achievement of gender equity while other studies challenge this view and contend that microcredit traps poor women into further debt and poverty. Little is known about how intersections between local social I would like to acknowledge and thank all of those who have inspired, helped and supported me along the way to complete this research project successfully. Fundamental for me was the warm support and sacrifice of my family especially my wife Sahina Akter and son Anonno, who gave me the opportunity to be away doing this research in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh and equally 'away' while writing this dissertation. Thank you so much Sahina and Anonno for your sacrifice and support for me, as I was often unable to manage time for you or to be with you when you desired me! I am immensely indebted to my PhD supervisor, Professor Helen Vallianatos, for her invaluable inspiration, extended academic support and direction throughout the process of accomplishing this research. She constantly provided useful academic feedback to me by reading and editing several versions of the manuscripts (those are already published) and chapters. Helen carefully read my writing, edited it with patience and directed me to enhance my academic writing skills. Therefore, I am extremely grateful to Helen for her great attention, critical advice, constant patience, and moral and personal help as well as her trust of me and faith in my capabilities. I will always be grateful for your trust, support, cooperation and friendship, and hope that we will continue to work together in the future. I must show my appreciation and thanks to my all other doctoral dissertation examining members and chair-Professors Pamela Willoughby, Gregory Forth, Kathleen Lowrey and Joseph Hill and Noami Krogman-for your thought-provoking questions, guidance and interest in this work. In particular, I am grateful to Dr. Kathleen Lowrey and Dr. Joseph Hill, who carefully read the initial draft of my dissertation a couple of times and provided very important comments and feedback, which immensely contributed to shaping my dissertation.
Change is perhaps the most common aspect of human life experienced in every society of today’s wo... more Change is perhaps the most common aspect of human life experienced in every society of today’s world. There may be differences in context, pattern, speed, scale, or extent of changes, but peoples across the globe more or less seem to share experiences of social, cultural and economic alteration in their everyday lives. Globalization, through the spread of the free market economy, the revolution of information and communication technologies (e.g., the spread of the Internet, media and entertainment technologies )rapid urbanization, the spread of consumer culture, and transnational migrations, have interconnected the world economically, culturally and politically. Even remote communities have been influenced by global change. Such change has both positive and negative consequences on peoples’ lives. Though many people’s have been blessed by economic and technological advancements, economic inequalities between and within nations proliferate. In addition to the continuance, even growth...
This research is about how a collective socio-political identity, the ‘Pahari’ (the hill people),... more This research is about how a collective socio-political identity, the ‘Pahari’ (the hill people), is constructed by the ethnoculturally diversifi ed groups of indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. While conducting my PhD dissertation fi eldwork in the CHT, I experienced that most of the non-Bengali ethnicities use a common term ‘Pahari’ in their everyday conversations. This term derives from the Bengali word ‘pahar’, which means “hill”; and the term ‘Pahari’ is the term used by ‘the inhabitants of hills’ or ‘the hill people’ to introduce them to visitors, tourists, or in their everyday conversations. Of course, they have their own distinctive and individual ethnic identity marked by language, religion, kinship, and marriage system (e.g., Chakma, Marma, Tanchang ya). Thus, they have two different identities: the ethnic identity and the common socio-political identity. The infl uence of hills, land, forest, Kaptai Lake, and above all, the ecological syst...
Despite advances in food production and distribution technologies, global food insecurity continu... more Despite advances in food production and distribution technologies, global food insecurity continues throughout parts of South Asia. Using ethnographic data collected from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh, this article reports on gendered and ethnocultural variations in experiences of food insecurity. Three key findings are that (1) regardless of ethnicity, the majority of the households in this study suffered moderate food insecurity; (2) food insecurity was higher among female-headed households; and (3) women's means of coping strategies varied depending on household structure and ethnic identity. It is argued that indigenous women's coping strategies were protective in comparison with Bengali women's experiences.
This paper explores how global media culture invades in rural Bangladesh and contributes to chang... more This paper explores how global media culture invades in rural Bangladesh and contributes to change or to erode its traditional life ways. Research findings show that the cultural globalization process has been a tremendous force in spreading western culture through information and communication technologies, cable and satellite TV, dubbing films, TV drama serials and other entertainment industries. Consequently, local and tradition ways of entertainments at the family and societal levels are disappearing fast. The rural people are increasingly depending on the modern entertainment technologies and thus they are moving away from practicing and preserving their own traditions (e.g. story telling, folk song, jatra, jarigaan, and others).
This is a literature review based paper, which deals with the emergence and development of urban ... more This is a literature review based paper, which deals with the emergence and development of urban anthropology particularly in the context of Bangladesh. In this paper, I delineate some of the contemporary issues and problems of urban centres in Bangladesh emerging from the larger process of economic globalization (e.g. garments industries) and haphazard urbanization. By outlining a wide range of contemporary urban phenomena, I make an attempt to visualize Bangladesh as a prospective field of urban anthropological studies.
Using ethnographic data, I examine the contradictions prevailing between the claims of microfinan... more Using ethnographic data, I examine the contradictions prevailing between the claims of microfinance institutions’ achievement, including the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Grameen Bank, of near-100 percent loan repayments and how these institutions define the causes of poverty in relation to poor people’s ability to repay the loans. I describe how loan officers use the provision of group liability to implement microcredit programs, create an unequal development opportunity and legitimize the coercive actions of repayment enforcement by blaming the poor. Finally, I conclude the article by summarizing the findings.
ABSTRACT Using data from a recent ethnographic research project on microcredit, power, and povert... more ABSTRACT Using data from a recent ethnographic research project on microcredit, power, and poverty in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, this article demonstrates that the relationship of women with both NGOs and male relatives is one of dependency and subordination. Gendered power relations, embedded in NGO practices and socio-cultural gender norms, influence the female borrowers to accept the domination of the fieldworkers and their male relatives. This article examines how and why NGOs create power inequalities between fieldworkers and female borrowers, why the fieldworkers dominate a group of women, and why these women continue to participate in microcredit programmes.
In Bangladesh and globally, microcredit has been recognized as a key development tool in the alle... more In Bangladesh and globally, microcredit has been recognized as a key development tool in the alleviation of poverty. Many international development agencies and donor countries prioritize microcredit to alleviate poverty because of reported success stories of microcredit nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in mobilizing poor women to participate in incomegenerating activities. Microcredit NGOs construct success stories of alleviating poverty and gender equity in relation to the repayment rate, but little is known about how they deploy strategies to collect loan installments from borrowers. Using ethnographic data collected in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, I examine how microcredit NGOs create unequal power relations between fieldworkers and borrowers to facilitate secure loan recovery. Reflecting on the women's experiences with microcredit programs, I demonstrate how these microcredit NGOs impose the provision of group liabilities, a ‘forced choice,’ upon the ...
Abstract: 'Globalization' -a term that entered popular discourse in the late 1980s has ce... more Abstract: 'Globalization' -a term that entered popular discourse in the late 1980s has certainly been become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of the new millennium. The nature and impact of globalization has been the subject matter of profound debates and concerns in economic, political, cultural studies and academic circles since the mid-1990s. However, mainstream economic thought promises that globalization would lift the poor above poverty, dissolve dictatorship, protect the environment, integrate cultures, and reverse the growing gap between rich and poor countries of the world. But in reality, globalization has brought about the devastating destruction of the traditions, the continued subordination of poorer nations and regions by richer countries of the west, environmental degradation, and posed a serious threat to indigenous and non-western cultures and economies. The globalization has resulted in the penetration and expansion of western food, film, clothing, mus...
During the 1990s, microcredit, also known as "microfinance," received global recognition as an ef... more During the 1990s, microcredit, also known as "microfinance," received global recognition as an effective social and economic development tool from major international development institutions and donor agencies, including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. The incorporation of microcredit into local and global development approaches was based on the core neoliberal ideology that the poor's participation in microcredit would eventually enable them to achieve economic self-reliance and that it would remove constraints of gender injustice. Over the last decade, many empirical studies on microcredit program impacts have been conducted across the globe. These studies produce contrasting scenarios: one group of studies claim that microcredit has a revolutionary effect in the alleviation of poverty and in the achievement of gender equity while other studies challenge this view and contend that microcredit traps poor women into further debt and poverty. Little is known about how intersections between local social I would like to acknowledge and thank all of those who have inspired, helped and supported me along the way to complete this research project successfully. Fundamental for me was the warm support and sacrifice of my family especially my wife Sahina Akter and son Anonno, who gave me the opportunity to be away doing this research in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh and equally 'away' while writing this dissertation. Thank you so much Sahina and Anonno for your sacrifice and support for me, as I was often unable to manage time for you or to be with you when you desired me! I am immensely indebted to my PhD supervisor, Professor Helen Vallianatos, for her invaluable inspiration, extended academic support and direction throughout the process of accomplishing this research. She constantly provided useful academic feedback to me by reading and editing several versions of the manuscripts (those are already published) and chapters. Helen carefully read my writing, edited it with patience and directed me to enhance my academic writing skills. Therefore, I am extremely grateful to Helen for her great attention, critical advice, constant patience, and moral and personal help as well as her trust of me and faith in my capabilities. I will always be grateful for your trust, support, cooperation and friendship, and hope that we will continue to work together in the future. I must show my appreciation and thanks to my all other doctoral dissertation examining members and chair-Professors Pamela Willoughby, Gregory Forth, Kathleen Lowrey and Joseph Hill and Noami Krogman-for your thought-provoking questions, guidance and interest in this work. In particular, I am grateful to Dr. Kathleen Lowrey and Dr. Joseph Hill, who carefully read the initial draft of my dissertation a couple of times and provided very important comments and feedback, which immensely contributed to shaping my dissertation.
Change is perhaps the most common aspect of human life experienced in every society of today’s wo... more Change is perhaps the most common aspect of human life experienced in every society of today’s world. There may be differences in context, pattern, speed, scale, or extent of changes, but peoples across the globe more or less seem to share experiences of social, cultural and economic alteration in their everyday lives. Globalization, through the spread of the free market economy, the revolution of information and communication technologies (e.g., the spread of the Internet, media and entertainment technologies )rapid urbanization, the spread of consumer culture, and transnational migrations, have interconnected the world economically, culturally and politically. Even remote communities have been influenced by global change. Such change has both positive and negative consequences on peoples’ lives. Though many people’s have been blessed by economic and technological advancements, economic inequalities between and within nations proliferate. In addition to the continuance, even growth...
This research is about how a collective socio-political identity, the ‘Pahari’ (the hill people),... more This research is about how a collective socio-political identity, the ‘Pahari’ (the hill people), is constructed by the ethnoculturally diversifi ed groups of indigenous people in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh. While conducting my PhD dissertation fi eldwork in the CHT, I experienced that most of the non-Bengali ethnicities use a common term ‘Pahari’ in their everyday conversations. This term derives from the Bengali word ‘pahar’, which means “hill”; and the term ‘Pahari’ is the term used by ‘the inhabitants of hills’ or ‘the hill people’ to introduce them to visitors, tourists, or in their everyday conversations. Of course, they have their own distinctive and individual ethnic identity marked by language, religion, kinship, and marriage system (e.g., Chakma, Marma, Tanchang ya). Thus, they have two different identities: the ethnic identity and the common socio-political identity. The infl uence of hills, land, forest, Kaptai Lake, and above all, the ecological syst...
Despite advances in food production and distribution technologies, global food insecurity continu... more Despite advances in food production and distribution technologies, global food insecurity continues throughout parts of South Asia. Using ethnographic data collected from the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh, this article reports on gendered and ethnocultural variations in experiences of food insecurity. Three key findings are that (1) regardless of ethnicity, the majority of the households in this study suffered moderate food insecurity; (2) food insecurity was higher among female-headed households; and (3) women's means of coping strategies varied depending on household structure and ethnic identity. It is argued that indigenous women's coping strategies were protective in comparison with Bengali women's experiences.
This paper explores how global media culture invades in rural Bangladesh and contributes to chang... more This paper explores how global media culture invades in rural Bangladesh and contributes to change or to erode its traditional life ways. Research findings show that the cultural globalization process has been a tremendous force in spreading western culture through information and communication technologies, cable and satellite TV, dubbing films, TV drama serials and other entertainment industries. Consequently, local and tradition ways of entertainments at the family and societal levels are disappearing fast. The rural people are increasingly depending on the modern entertainment technologies and thus they are moving away from practicing and preserving their own traditions (e.g. story telling, folk song, jatra, jarigaan, and others).
This is a literature review based paper, which deals with the emergence and development of urban ... more This is a literature review based paper, which deals with the emergence and development of urban anthropology particularly in the context of Bangladesh. In this paper, I delineate some of the contemporary issues and problems of urban centres in Bangladesh emerging from the larger process of economic globalization (e.g. garments industries) and haphazard urbanization. By outlining a wide range of contemporary urban phenomena, I make an attempt to visualize Bangladesh as a prospective field of urban anthropological studies.
Using ethnographic data, I examine the contradictions prevailing between the claims of microfinan... more Using ethnographic data, I examine the contradictions prevailing between the claims of microfinance institutions’ achievement, including the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Grameen Bank, of near-100 percent loan repayments and how these institutions define the causes of poverty in relation to poor people’s ability to repay the loans. I describe how loan officers use the provision of group liability to implement microcredit programs, create an unequal development opportunity and legitimize the coercive actions of repayment enforcement by blaming the poor. Finally, I conclude the article by summarizing the findings.
ABSTRACT Using data from a recent ethnographic research project on microcredit, power, and povert... more ABSTRACT Using data from a recent ethnographic research project on microcredit, power, and poverty in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, this article demonstrates that the relationship of women with both NGOs and male relatives is one of dependency and subordination. Gendered power relations, embedded in NGO practices and socio-cultural gender norms, influence the female borrowers to accept the domination of the fieldworkers and their male relatives. This article examines how and why NGOs create power inequalities between fieldworkers and female borrowers, why the fieldworkers dominate a group of women, and why these women continue to participate in microcredit programmes.
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Papers by H M Ashraf Ali