Population Movements in West Bengal

The Sundarbans as a region is shared between Bangladesh (60%) and India (40%) and forms an intriguing geography to understand not only the consequences of macro‐political landmarks such as the partition, it is an arable field to explore the intersections of people, history, and politics‐ with a particular recognition of the constructions, constitutions, and manifestations of shifting, undefined, cultural and physical borders. This paper contends that Hindu nationalism in the Indian Sundarbans borderlands emerges as a result of what Sigmund Freud called ‘narcissism of minor differences’ between the Bengalis across borders and it makes for a distinct kind of nationalism that unfavourably impacts the Muslim Bengalis in the region. I situate that the ongoing aggressive Hindu nationalism in India's Bengal is a classic case of narcissism of minor differences and understanding its nuances can illuminate the multiple ways in which variant forms of nationalism are highly appropriated and propagated. Secondly, the study addresses how the liminal borderlands are fertile fields for such type of nationalism. Lastly, in order to further problematise the actors and the activism around nationalism, I study the work of Hindu nationalist women who volunteer with the Rashtriya Sevika Samiti to map and appraise the gendered aspect of this discourse. The Bengali Hindu Samiti women dedicate much of their nationalist activism in emphasising on both territorial and cultural borders and target Bengali Muslims who have migrated from Bangladesh and with whom they share deep civilisational and cultural sameness.

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Entrepreneurship and Sociocultural Factors

Dutta¹

2016

South Asia Research

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Sociocultural factors in relation to the concept of entrepreneurship have been neglected in theories of economic development. While the growth of entrepreneurship often involves social and cultural issues, mainstream economists seem averse to discuss this. The present article emphasises the need for interdisciplinary enquiry to better understand various kinds of South Asian entrepreneurial activity and success from ethnographic and psycho-sociocultural perspectives. Existing research confirms that several non-economic factors can be identified as highly relevant for entrepreneurship and economic success. The article analyses those findings, places them in a wider context and calls for further research.

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Population Movements in West Bengal

Cited by 5 publications

References 6 publications

Narrating Trauma, Constructing Binaries, Affirming Agency: Partition in Muslim Women’s Autobiographical Writing

Narrating Trauma, Constructing Binaries, Affirming Agency: Partition in Muslim Women’s Autobiographical Writing

Hindu Nationalism emerging from narcissism of minor differences in Indo‐Bangladesh borderlands: A gendered narration

Entrepreneurship and Sociocultural Factors

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