The Bangladesh Paradox

Despite spurts of interest, Bangladesh does not get the attention warranted by a country of its size, complexity and relevance. This is true of the media coverage within and beyond Southasia, which seems to be part of a larger pattern that undermines the Bangladeshi story. Southasia’s youngest nation state deserves greater attention – for the challenges it faces and for its critical role in key regional and global debates.

Forty-four years after the Liberation War of 1971, the collective memory of the event remains fresh, and the debates it has generated permeate most aspects of Bangladeshi life. In this quarterly, we examine questions ranging from the battles over freedom of expression, the self-identification of minority communities, workers’ struggles on the factory floors, to the country’s fraught relationship with Hindi and Urdu cinema. By looking at the ‘multiple frontiers’ (to use Richard Eaton’s coinage) that is contemporary Bangladesh, we seek to understand what it is that sets the terms for these debates