How does being located in borderlands impact cultural identity, through both assimilation and distinctness?

This exploration of the self-identified Marma group, the second largest ethnic group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, discusses various aspects of identity creation, maintenance and adaptation in the unique setting of the geo-political border between South and Southeast Asia. With the fluidity of change and ethnic composition that is typical of geographical borders, the expectation is constant adaptation resulting in slow change of cultural identity over time. In the Marma case, adaptations are made in order to maintain their cultural distinctiveness. Drawing from stories of the people who hold this identity, the book considers how cultural groups navigate the constant demands on their identity whilst living in borderlands.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• viiContents
• ixAcknowledgements
• Introduction
  • Meet the Marma
    • Ethnic hybridity
    • Little Burma
    • Shininess
    • Stability in flux
    • Climate change
    • Studying a lived identity in the borderlands
  • About me
  • A note about terminologies
• 1 Teacher and student guide
  • Learning objectives
  • Learner objectives
  • Suggested activities (general)
  • Suggested activities (by chapter)
  • Recommended projects
• 2 The project and the people
  • The people of the CHT
  • The history of the CHT
    • The three powers: the Arakan, the Mughals, and the British
    • Partition of India and the Pakistan phase (1947–1971)
    • Bangladesh as an independent state (1971–)
  • Contemporary times
    • The Chakma Circle
    • The Mong Circle
    • The Bohmong Circle
  • Key takeaways
• 3 A toolkit to study identity on the borderlands
  • Understanding borderlands
  • When ethnic groups assimilate
  • Creating cultural boundaries
  • Hybridity: multicultural unities
    • Creolisation
    • Entanglement
    • Syncretism
    • Models of chaos
    • A recap
  • The invention of tradition and culture
    • Invention of tradition
    • Invention of culture
    • Inversion of tradition
    • A recap
  • The reproduction and transformation of culture
    • Structure in reproduction and transformation
    • Structure in the historical longue durée
• 4 Marma kinship and marriage rituals
  • Kinship practices in the region
    • Chakma kinship
    • Bangladeshi kinship
  • Marma principles of descent, rules, and residence
    • Patriclans
    • Residence: the compound or oeingsa
    • The freedom of Marma women
    • Summary
  • Marma marriage rituals: “To be put on the path together”
  • The steps involved in a Marma marriage
    • Consulting astrologers
      • The compatibility of names
      • Birth charts
    • “I want the daughter for my son” – the engagement process
      • The proposal
      • The negotiation
      • Interpreting dreams
      • Financial details of the marriage
    • The pre-wedding rituals
      • The eve of the wedding day
      • Wedding day procession
      • Barricades and the stoning myth
    • Chameng Than Pwe: “To be put on the path together”
      • Blessings
      • The social contract
      • Eating from the same dish
      • The chicken beak
      • Hand over hand
      • The sword, more blessings, the meal, and drinks
      • A recap
  • Discussion of Marma marriage rituals
    • Marriage rituals that have endured
    • The hybrid nature of Buddhist and non-Buddhist interventions
    • Agency
    • Role of chickens
  • Some concluding thoughts
• 5 Ethnic endogamy
  • Ethnic endogamy practices in the Marma group
    • Naming
    • The taboo of inter-ethnic marriage
  • Contemporary pressures
    • Demographic changes and the land
      • Changing population of the CHT
      • End of the excluded area
    • The shortage of marriageable Marma men
    • Challenging endogamy rules – elopement
    • Attitudes to inter-ethnic marriage in Burma
      • British-instigated migration to Burma
      • Resistance to inter-ethnic marriage
  • Property transmission and protection
    • Marma inheritance laws
    • The role of marriage payments
      • Marma marriage payments
      • Bangladeshi and Burmese marriage payments
    • Adaptations and strategies
      • Hybrid marriage payments
      • Polygamous marriages
    • A recap
  • Final thoughts on kinship, rituals, land, and endogamy
• 6 Migration and settlement
  • Introduction
    • The ethnic label “Marma”
    • The royal chart and the faithful followers
    • The faithful followers
    • A recap
  • A plotted history: The cycle of defeat and triumph
    • Defeat
    • Military victory
    • The journey to the CHT
    • Pact with the “friendly tribes”
    • Discussion
      • Agency
      • Oral history
      • Circularity and syncretism
      • Encounters with “the other” and entanglement
  • Settlement and defining new mythical boundaries
    • The Sangu river
    • Securing the boundaries of the community
      • Legend of the cholera outbreak
      • Legend of the coffin stuck in a tree
      • The four spirit shrines
    • The Bandarban edict: Boundary maintenance
      • The edict
      • Purposefulness and place-making
  • Again chaos: The decline of Bohmong power
    • Destruction of a royal palace
    • Shrine boundaries breached
    • Competition and conflict at the apex
    • A recap
• 7 The invention of Marma material culture and ceremonials
  • The concept of shininess
  • The sword that shines
    • Bohmong sword and the invention of a Marma tradition
    • The Bohmong sword as symbol of military power
  • The tax collection ceremony – the raj punya
    • When it is held
    • Who attends
    • Reinventing the tradition
    • The connecting power of shininess
  • The coin garlands – Puaitha Loing Hrui
    • The custom of coin garland-making
    • Function of coin garlands
  • The function of Marma material culture and ceremonials
    • Invention and reinvention
    • Entanglement
    • Syncretism
  • Final thoughts on migration, settlement, and material culture
• Conclusions
• 172Notes
• 189References
• 196197Recommended further reading
• 200Glossary
• Appendices
• Appendices
• Appendices
• Appendices
• Appendices
• Appendices
• 250Index

Farhana Hoque PhD conducted her doctoral research at UCL in the social anthropology of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. She also holds an MA in Medical Anthropology from Vrije University and the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands, and a BA in History and Politics from Liverpool University. Her work on marginalised communities began with a study of women and their reproductive health in Bamako in Mali in the 1990s and continued in her volunteering work at Amnesty International during the Sierra Leone Civil War.