Mohammad Nasir Uddin
I am a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
My research, based at Durham University, UK, examines the making and unmaking of self and subjectivity among garment factory workers in Bangladesh. I explore how labor identities, gender norms, moral codes, familial and social relationships, sexualities, and other affective-emotional values and practices are (re)constituted and (re)configured within contemporary globalized production regimes. In particular, my work investigates how the aggressive and chaotic transformations of neoliberal capitalism intersect with what is typically perceived as ‘intimate’ and ‘local.’
I analyze how the interplay of cultural politics and political economy allows developmentalist neoliberalism to appropriate the cheap labor of the "surplus" population—especially women. Additionally, I examine the intersection of production and reproduction within this process, revealing the structural conditions that sustain it.
My research also highlights how the nationalist drive for high economic growth deepens the precarity of internally migrant workers employed in factories connected to the global supply chain.
My work, thus, seeks to illuminate how the "primitive accumulation" strategies of global and local merchants shape workers' lives—and how the workers, in turn, rework and resist dominant economic and social orders.
My research, based at Durham University, UK, examines the making and unmaking of self and subjectivity among garment factory workers in Bangladesh. I explore how labor identities, gender norms, moral codes, familial and social relationships, sexualities, and other affective-emotional values and practices are (re)constituted and (re)configured within contemporary globalized production regimes. In particular, my work investigates how the aggressive and chaotic transformations of neoliberal capitalism intersect with what is typically perceived as ‘intimate’ and ‘local.’
I analyze how the interplay of cultural politics and political economy allows developmentalist neoliberalism to appropriate the cheap labor of the "surplus" population—especially women. Additionally, I examine the intersection of production and reproduction within this process, revealing the structural conditions that sustain it.
My research also highlights how the nationalist drive for high economic growth deepens the precarity of internally migrant workers employed in factories connected to the global supply chain.
My work, thus, seeks to illuminate how the "primitive accumulation" strategies of global and local merchants shape workers' lives—and how the workers, in turn, rework and resist dominant economic and social orders.
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Papers by Mohammad Nasir Uddin
This piece is an outcome of a study in which original focus was to understand the state of Dalit women's participation in political processes in Bangladesh. One of the main findings of the study was that given the intensity of exclusion and deprivation that feature life of Dalit people in general, it is almost impossible to explore or explain 'women questions' per se. The policy, programme, activism, or other forms of efforts that focus narrowly on Dalit women's predicaments and intend to see it in isolation from the overall condition of the communities would turn up to be seriously flawed. Based on detailed ethnographic account of the women members of Dalit communities in Dhaka city, the paper argues that the level of participation of Dalit women in politics cannot be understood without referring them to the overall socio-cultural, economic and political situation of Dalit people, and therefore, 'Dalit women question' is to be understood with strong reference to the overall process of exclusion and deprivation that the communities have been subjected to for centuries.
This writeup is an attempt to understand the contemporary social life of gendered proverbs in the context of shifts and negotiations of gender practices. By doing so it tries to look into the processes in which the ideologies of masculinity and femininity are reproduced, reinforced, or contested and subverted.
Most of the proverbs emerged in different contexts in the past and a lot has changed in societal reorganization over the years. The question that becomes pertinent with the passage of time is: Whether the essence and 'wisdom' encoded in the sayings hold relevance for contemporary contexts in the same way? Should the axioms still be taken to represent the social psychology and practices that looks for validation and reinforcement of men's control over women? Particularly in the context of women's 'economic empowerment' and greater mobility when the structural disparities between men and women are assumed to have come under scrutiny in some ways or other, what does it mean that proverbs approving male dominance are evoked time and again in everyday life setting?
Based on what we have noted among the garment workers in semi-urban locales, we argue here that even though the proverbs with the message of male dominance are still frequently referred to by both men and women engaged in industrial work, many of the female garment workers show strong cynicism about the tenets of these proverbs, at time ridicules the representation of masculinity.
Through the ethnographic analysis of the moments and milieus of evocations, we argue that the persistence of such reference to the patriarchal worldview is a testimony of how complex it is to do away with the ideological formation of gender disparity that this enacts – it solicits greater policy intervention and discursive shift than liberal individualization and market incorporation. We highlight both the celebration and contestation of the proverbs in mundane life ways and further argue that the ways men and women rethink and resist the ingrained wisdom of the proverbs should be taken seriously into account – and, in that way we may better understand the agency and grounded subjectivity of the workers.
As I try to show how the discriminatory ideologies and actions based on caste have historically been intertwined with other forms and factors of differentiation and social hierarchy, my specific goal is to show how a generalized framework of caste is inadequate to understand contemporary social subtleties in Bangladesh. I argue that the complex 'formation' of inequality is what that gives shape to social and political status of Dalit people of Bangladesh. Social exclusion and deprivation that the 'untouchable' communities experience cannot be understood in terms of caste per se. Additionally, I see that recent 'civil society efforts' in Bangladesh to engender a new discourse on Dalit people's social development is basically an outcome of donor-driven intervention. These 'externally initiated' efforts bring forth significant dilemmas particularly for the reason that the members of the Dalit communities view many of these interventions and activisms to be 'non-indigenous' or 'non-vernacular' in nature; they also feel a sense of exclusion in relation to efforts taken from the top or not part of 'outsiders'.
Extending this observation, I also argue that initiatives taken to substantially challenge structural causes of Dalit people's right deprivation in Bangladesh brings about myriad forms of uncertainties and inconsistencies that are not easy to be articulated or indicated if we do not question the basic characteristics of development discourse here. If the stakeholders intend to make the transformation process more substantial and connected to the excluded people themselves, they will need to critically rework many of the assumptions that define current mode of civil society engagement.
As the write-up gives a deeper look into the conceptual base of these two opposing positions, it argues that the utmost emphasize that is given on universal application of liberal democracy is not well founded; such politics of offering 'one size fit all' solution rather serves the purpose of concealing far deeper crises. Instead of placing overarching and undue-also, politically motivated-emphasis on a particular form of governance, that is, Western liberal democracy, more attention should be directed toward bringing about governance systems that might be more in line with the history and culture of a particular nation or region.
Instead of simplistically imagining a linear connection between democracy and development, more attention and focus should be given to the structure of transnational global order. Inequality embedded within the governance system at global level should be brought under scrutiny with a view to make them more inclusive of developing countries, and thus ways to global justice might be paved.
Published Books by Mohammad Nasir Uddin
This piece is an outcome of a study in which original focus was to understand the state of Dalit women's participation in political processes in Bangladesh. One of the main findings of the study was that given the intensity of exclusion and deprivation that feature life of Dalit people in general, it is almost impossible to explore or explain 'women questions' per se. The policy, programme, activism, or other forms of efforts that focus narrowly on Dalit women's predicaments and intend to see it in isolation from the overall condition of the communities would turn up to be seriously flawed. Based on detailed ethnographic account of the women members of Dalit communities in Dhaka city, the paper argues that the level of participation of Dalit women in politics cannot be understood without referring them to the overall socio-cultural, economic and political situation of Dalit people, and therefore, 'Dalit women question' is to be understood with strong reference to the overall process of exclusion and deprivation that the communities have been subjected to for centuries.
This writeup is an attempt to understand the contemporary social life of gendered proverbs in the context of shifts and negotiations of gender practices. By doing so it tries to look into the processes in which the ideologies of masculinity and femininity are reproduced, reinforced, or contested and subverted.
Most of the proverbs emerged in different contexts in the past and a lot has changed in societal reorganization over the years. The question that becomes pertinent with the passage of time is: Whether the essence and 'wisdom' encoded in the sayings hold relevance for contemporary contexts in the same way? Should the axioms still be taken to represent the social psychology and practices that looks for validation and reinforcement of men's control over women? Particularly in the context of women's 'economic empowerment' and greater mobility when the structural disparities between men and women are assumed to have come under scrutiny in some ways or other, what does it mean that proverbs approving male dominance are evoked time and again in everyday life setting?
Based on what we have noted among the garment workers in semi-urban locales, we argue here that even though the proverbs with the message of male dominance are still frequently referred to by both men and women engaged in industrial work, many of the female garment workers show strong cynicism about the tenets of these proverbs, at time ridicules the representation of masculinity.
Through the ethnographic analysis of the moments and milieus of evocations, we argue that the persistence of such reference to the patriarchal worldview is a testimony of how complex it is to do away with the ideological formation of gender disparity that this enacts – it solicits greater policy intervention and discursive shift than liberal individualization and market incorporation. We highlight both the celebration and contestation of the proverbs in mundane life ways and further argue that the ways men and women rethink and resist the ingrained wisdom of the proverbs should be taken seriously into account – and, in that way we may better understand the agency and grounded subjectivity of the workers.
As I try to show how the discriminatory ideologies and actions based on caste have historically been intertwined with other forms and factors of differentiation and social hierarchy, my specific goal is to show how a generalized framework of caste is inadequate to understand contemporary social subtleties in Bangladesh. I argue that the complex 'formation' of inequality is what that gives shape to social and political status of Dalit people of Bangladesh. Social exclusion and deprivation that the 'untouchable' communities experience cannot be understood in terms of caste per se. Additionally, I see that recent 'civil society efforts' in Bangladesh to engender a new discourse on Dalit people's social development is basically an outcome of donor-driven intervention. These 'externally initiated' efforts bring forth significant dilemmas particularly for the reason that the members of the Dalit communities view many of these interventions and activisms to be 'non-indigenous' or 'non-vernacular' in nature; they also feel a sense of exclusion in relation to efforts taken from the top or not part of 'outsiders'.
Extending this observation, I also argue that initiatives taken to substantially challenge structural causes of Dalit people's right deprivation in Bangladesh brings about myriad forms of uncertainties and inconsistencies that are not easy to be articulated or indicated if we do not question the basic characteristics of development discourse here. If the stakeholders intend to make the transformation process more substantial and connected to the excluded people themselves, they will need to critically rework many of the assumptions that define current mode of civil society engagement.
As the write-up gives a deeper look into the conceptual base of these two opposing positions, it argues that the utmost emphasize that is given on universal application of liberal democracy is not well founded; such politics of offering 'one size fit all' solution rather serves the purpose of concealing far deeper crises. Instead of placing overarching and undue-also, politically motivated-emphasis on a particular form of governance, that is, Western liberal democracy, more attention should be directed toward bringing about governance systems that might be more in line with the history and culture of a particular nation or region.
Instead of simplistically imagining a linear connection between democracy and development, more attention and focus should be given to the structure of transnational global order. Inequality embedded within the governance system at global level should be brought under scrutiny with a view to make them more inclusive of developing countries, and thus ways to global justice might be paved.