Migration and Rural Differentiation: A Case Study of Two Selected Villages in Noakhali Region of Bangladesh

Abstract

This article explores rural differentiation in two selected villages in the Noakhali region of southeastern Bangladesh. The findings are based on a resurvey of 120 households selected from Hasanpur and Purbalach villages. Using conditions of reproduction in assessing the nature of rural differentiation, this article argues that migration can and does support simple commodity production in certain contexts. However, given that migrants sell their landholdings in order to generate money for migration, this results in landlessness. Migration can also be representative of a distinct condition of reproduction in formation, whose sole aim is no longer restricted to providing the means to cling to the land but rather to escape its clutch.