The Land that Disappeared: Forceful Occupation, Disputes and the Negotiation of Landlord Power in a Bangladeshi Bastee

Abstract

Through the lens of the 'disappearance' of a piece of land, this article analyses land relations in a Bangladeshi bastee (slum). The author builds an understanding of the local negotiation of ownership in an area where dakhal (forceful occupation) is the main starting point for the assessment of ownership. The property regime in the bastee emerges out of a web of relationships between different landlords, strongmen, elected officials and (local and national) politicians. These relations are not only crucial for maintaining existing dakhal patterns, but also for guaranteeing land sales, negotiating and settling disputes and, in the final instance, for negotiating power relations in the bastee itself.

Livelihoods Limitations: The Political Economy of Urban Poverty in Dhaka, Bangladesh

“…This meant that in‐depth interviews and outcomes could be contextualized and analysed within each settlement's local political economy. Findings here are strengthened by the author's previous research on urban governance (Banks, ) and by several recent studies into how social and political systems govern land allocation, service delivery and everyday life for informal settlement residents in Bangladesh (Hackenbrock, ; Hossain, ; Suykens, ).…”

“…The government fears that large urban areas controlled by opposition parties will damage their chances of re‐election; operating through these leaders minimizes the risks of anti‐government movements emerging (Hossain, ). In the process, the interests, power and authority of local leaders are protected (Suykens, ) . Through these leaders — and their committees and strongmen — the government can manage and control low‐income settlements as vote banks, provide alternative forms of ‘informal’ service provision, or distribute goods and entitlements such as food rations or blankets in emergencies (Banks, ; Banks et al., ).…”

“…Unable to assert their rights to secure tenure and adequate services through formal systems, the majority of low‐income urban residents are dependent on these influential intermediaries and the relationships they hold with strongmen, elected officials and local and national politicians (Suykens, ). These clientelistic relationships have come to dominate the wider forms of participation through which the urban poor in Bangladesh gain access to services and opportunities (Banks, ).…”

The Decline of Gangsters and Politicization of Violence in Urban Bangladesh

“…Hence mastan build norms and maintain ‘informal rights’ (ibid.). More recently it has been argued that the mastan operate as representatives for concerned parties in bastee land disputes (Suykens, ), and also that they use street children in their illegal activities (Atkinson‐Sheppard, ). Returning to historic Kolkata, goonda are similarly identified as having ‘dominated life in working‐class bustis … and bazaars’ (Chakrabarty, : 110), running extortion networks and illegal businesses, particularly brothels (Das, ; Ghosh, )…”

“…By contrast, others have expressed a greater degree of ambiguity. In the context of a slum in Chittagong, Suykens (: 496) writes that the ‘line between being a mastaan, a jomidar or a community leader was sometimes thin and blurred’. Building on this comment, Banks (: 278) describes some leaders in Dhaka's slums as being mastan, others as having been so in the past, while some as not being mastan at all.…”