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A Story of Ambivalent Modernization in Bangladesh and West Bengal

The Rise and Fall of Bengali Elitism in South Asia

by Pranab Chatterjee (Author)
©2010 Monographs XVI, 294 Pages
Series: Asian Thought and Culture, Volume 65

Summary

This book details the evolution of Bengali culture (in both Bangladesh and West Bengal) since antiquity and argues for its modernization. Originally peripheral to Hindu civilization based in North India, Bengali culture was subjected to various forms of Sanskritization. Centuries of invasions (1204-1757) resulted most notably in the Islamization of Bengal. Often there were conflicts between Sanskritization and Islamization. Later colonization of Bengal by Britain (1757) led to a process of Anglicization, which created a new middle class in Bengal that, in turn, created a form of elitism among the Bengali Hindu upper caste. After British rule ended (1947), Bengali culture lost its elitist status in South Asia and has undergone severe marginalization. Political instability and economic insufficiency, as reflected by many quantitative and qualitative indicators, are common and contribute to pervasive unemployment, alienation, vigilantism, and instability in the entire region. A Story of Ambivalent Modernization in Bangladesh and West Bengal is appropriate not only for Bengali intellectuals and scholars but for sociologists, political scientists, cultural anthropologists, historians, and others interested in a case study of how and why a given culture becomes derailed from its path toward modernization.

Details

Pages
XVI, 294
Year
2010
ISBN (PDF)
9781453904817
ISBN (Hardcover)
9781433108204
DOI
10.3726/978-1-4539-0481-7
Language
English
Publication date
2011 (November)
Keywords
Bengalen (Volksgruppe) Kultur Gesellschaftsordnung Religiöse Identität Geschichte Bangladesh, West Bengal, Islam, Colonialism, Soci Bangladesh West Bengal Islam Colonialism Social Development Modernization Culture
Published
New York, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, Oxford, Wien, 2010. XVI, 294 pp., num. ill.

Biographical notes

Pranab Chatterjee (Author)

The Author: Pranab Chatterjee received his undergraduate education from Viswa-Bharati University in West Bengal, India. Subsequent to that, he received a master’s degree in social work from the University of Tennessee, a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Chicago, and his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. He is currently Grace Longwell Coyle Professor Emeritus at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He is the author of many professional papers and books, most notably, Approaches to the Welfare State (1996) and Repackaging the Welfare State (1999).

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313 pages