Masters final year suggestion subject code 312007

Subject code: 312007

Paper Title: Sociology of Minorities

1.      Introduction

Definition of minorities

Major concepts: nation, nationality, majority, minority and indigenous people, racial and ethnic group

Type of minorities: pluralistic, assimilationist, secessionist & militant

2. State and Ethnic Communities

1. The origin of ethnic groups
2. Primordial ties
3. Ethnic groups and ethnic identity formation
4. Nationalism and ethnicity
5. Ethnicity, race and nation

3. Theoretical Debates

      a.   Assimilation: critique of liberal theory

      b.   Pluralism- legal protection of minority

      c.   Debate on right to self-determination (political perspective: CHT 1997 accord)

4. Minorities and International Laws

      a.   Bangladeshi Constitution and minorities

      b.   UN Declaration on the fights of minorities (1992)

      c.    Convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (CERD, 1965)

      d.   The role of ILO in promoting and protecting the rights of indigenous peoples--convention    

            107 & 169 on indigenous and tribal peoples

 

5. Minorities in Bangladesh

      a.   Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Ahmadyas as religious minorities (other examples will be

drawn from Bangladesh)

      b.   Minority politics in Bangladesh

      c.   The practice of vested property act and marginalization of Hindus in Bangladesh

 6. Situations of Indigenous People

      a.   Socio-economic and political situation analyses of Garos, Khasis, Santals and indigenous

            peoples in CHT

      b.   Adverse impact of development policies, programmes: marginalization, displacement,

            and dispossession (case studies from India and Bangladesh)

  7. Major Issues in Minorities and Indigenous Studies

      a.   Cultural practices—indigenous concept of land

      b.   Land alienation (examples from population transfer in CHT and establishment of ECO            

            park and forestry programmes in plain land

      c.   Indigenous people and forest (examples on Village Common Forest and CHT)     

8. Women as minorities

      a. Differently able women, women & aging

      b. Feminist perspective on race, ethnicity and nation

c. Socio-economic & political situation of minority & indigenous women

Books Recommended:

Barakat et al. 1997. Political Economy of the Vested Property Act in Rural Bangladesh (ALRD) 

Gain, Philip (ed.) 2000. The Chittagong Hill Tracts Life and Nature at Risk. SEHD. Gain, Philip (ed.) 1998. Bangladesh Land Forest and Forest People. SEHD

Halim, S. 2004. Listening to the Indigenous Women: The Struggle for a Voice in Solidarity, Our Land Our Life, Bangladesh Indigenous People Forum, Dhaka.

Halim, S. & Roy, D. (2004) Indigenous People's Rights and Equitable Livelihoods in Village Common Forests, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh, a forthcoming publication by ICIMOD (Integrated Center for Mountain Development) Nepal.

Halim, S. (2003). Insecurity of Indigenous Women: A Case from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, in Indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination, Solidarity, 2005, Bangladesh Indigenous Peoples Forum, Dhaka, Bangladesh, pp-95-105.

Kymlica, Will (ed.) 1995. The Rights of Minority Culture. Oxford University Press.

Roy, Raja Devasish, (1997). 'The Population Transfer Programme of the 1980s and the Land Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts' in Subir Bhaumik et al (eds.), Living on the Edge.- Essays from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, South Asia Forum for Human Rights, Kathmandu (1997), pp. 167-208.

Roy, R.D. (2000). Occupation & Economy in Transition: A case Study of the Chittagong

Hill Tracts' in Traditional Occupations of Indigenous and tribal Peoples: Emerging Trends, ILO.

Roy, R.D. (2002). Land and Forest Rights in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Talking Points, 4102, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal.