Research papers

You are invited to use our website to publish good quality research papers that you have authored on any topics linked to Bangladesh and Bangladeshis abroad.  If you are interested in publishing your papers in www.bricklanecircle.org please send your work with short background information about yourself and your areas of interest by email to bricklanecircle@yahoo.co.uk. 

 

You may also want to look at the free journal south Asian Cultural Studies www.edgehill.ac.uk/sacs

 

Research Papers 

What DFID can do better for Bangladesh

This was written by a small group of volunteers in January 2003 as a formal response to a DFID consultation paper on Bangladesh.  

As indicated in the executive summary to this 44 page report, the authors were just as interested in the broad question of ‘What overseas Bangladeshis can do better for Bangladesh’ and the report explores a wide range of themes including the role of remittances in development, the importance of good governance and mitigating the impact of climate change.  The last chapter includes a brief look at future scenarios for Bangladesh and it is hoped that its publication on the Brick Lane Circle website can help inspire others to work on future consultation papers and research on the issues covered in the paper.  

NB: The report is enclosed in an unamended pdf format from 2003/4 and so the affiliiations of individuals named in the report may have changed. In addition the bb-idg.co.uk website is no longer active. There is however much more information available in the public domain on some of the key themes covered by the paper. For instance DFID and other development organisations publish a lot more research on the role and impact of remittances and on climate change mitigation in 2011 than 8 years ago.  BRAC UK's website indicates some of the valuable work in linking British Bangladeshi professionals to development projects in Bangladesh
https://www.bracuk.net/reader.aspx?id=30&NgID=50  
and Bangldeshi businesses themsleves recently organised a major Bangldesh Brand Forum exhibtion in Westminster in November 2010.
https://www.bangladeshbrandforum.com/meetbangladesh/meet-bangladesh.html  

IDG DFID Bangladesh paper.pdf (267,2 kB)

 

What kind of language services should public authorities provide to minority ethnic groups: the case of Bangladeshis in London

A key objective of this report is to understand what the main motivations for minority ethnic groups are (in this case Bangladeshis in London) for learning English. This study investigates the levels of English attained pre-migration and explores the learning pathways of Bangladeshis in acquiring English after arrival in the UK. It also helps to identify whether ESOL services adequately meet local need and whether the learning requirements of this group are addressed in relation to range and type of provision, and in terms of culturally competent services needed for participation.

Ferhana Hashem and Peter Aspinall

What_kind_of_language_services.pdf (508,3 kB) 

 

Governance and Development

The contemporary focus on good governance reforms in developing countries is based on developing market-enhancing governance capabilities of states. If successful, this type of governance should make markets more efficient. However, the evidence in support of these reforms is poor. Cross-sectional evidence can be used to extract some support for the importance of market-enhancing governance, but the data is weak and can support a number of different results. Some of this evidence is presented in this paper, and we argue that it actually supports the view that ‘good governance’ reforms are difficult to implement in any developing country. Rapidly growing countries in general did not enjoy better market-enhancing governance conditions compared to the others. If some developing countries nevertheless succeeded in achieving sustained convergence, they must have had other governance capabilities that allowed them to achieve this.

Professor Mushtaq H Khan

Governance and Development.pdf (237,6 kB)

You can also other papers and works by Professor Mushtaq Khan by visiting his website:  

https://mercury.soas.ac.uk/users/mk17/

 

Loot: in search of the East India Company, the world’s first transnational corporation

This article charts the growth of the world’s first transnational corporation, the East India Company, and the resonance this has for today’s globalization agenda. Starting as a speculative company to import spices, the East India grew to rule one-fifth of the world’s population. The paper also discusses the implications, for India and Britain, of its profit-driven development achieved through trade, taxes and conquest. It also describes how the Company’s wealth allowed it to manipulate and even bring down governments.

Nick Robins

Loot - in serach of the East India Company - the worlds first transnational corporation.pdf (82,2 kB)

 

White Memories, White Belonging: Competing Colonial Anniversaries in 'Postcolonial' East London

This paper explores how processes of remembering past events contribute to the construction of highly racialised local and national politics of belonging in the UK. Ethnographic research and contextualised discourse analysis are used to examine two colonial anniversaries remembered in 2006: the 1606 departure of English 'settlers' who built the first permanent English colony in North America at Jamestown, Virginia, and the 1806 opening of the East India Docks, half a century after the East India Company took control of Bengal following the battle of Polashi. Both events were associated with the Thames waterfront location of Blackwall in the east London borough of Tower Hamlets, an area with the highest Bengali population in Britain and significant links with North America through banks and businesses based at the regenerated Canary Wharf office complex. It investigates how discourses and events associated with these two specific anniversaries and with the recent 'regeneration' of Blackwall, contribute to the consolidation of the dominant 'mercantile discourse' about the British Empire, Britishness and belonging. Challenges to the dominant discourse of the 'celebration' of colonial settlement in North America by competing discourses of North American Indian and African American groups are contrasted with the lack of contest to discourses that 'celebrate' Empire stories in contemporary Britain. The paper argues that the 'mercantile discourse' in Britain works to construct a sense of mutual white belonging that links white Englishness with white Americaness through emphasising links between Blackwall and Jamestown and associating the values of 'freedom and democracy' with colonialism. At the same time British Bengali belonging is marginalised as links between Blackwall and Bengal and the violence and oppression of British colonialism are silenced. The paper concludes with an analysis of the contemporary mobilisation of the 'mercantile discourse' in influential social policy and 'regeneration' discourse about 'The East End'.

Georgie Wemyss, Goldsmiths, University of London  

https://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/5/8.html

 

Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Bangladesh_2008 

This work assesses the economic impacts of climate change in Bangladesh. It is based on an appraisal of global and regional variations in climate and an analysis of findings and predictions derived from models, empirical studies and scientific publications.  Predictions about climate are combined with socio-economic and sectoral data to evaluate and rank economic impacts of climate change on Bangladesh, in particular on coastal zones and riverine settlements.  This study does not offer a complete overview of potential impacts on the economy of Bangladesh, yet rather a selection of significant highlights. Suggestions will be made on possible strategies for risk reduction.

 

The study examines structures for the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change risks facing Bangladesh, as well as the varied approaches of civil society, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), international donor agencies, industry and commerce to these risks.  Further, the interaction among these institutions and the compatibility of their various projects is reviewed. Development priorities of the GoB are assessed to evaluate if they measure up to the identified risks. The study examines the problems of combining environmental action, sustainable economic growth and sound management of resources. Finally, alternative strategies are suggested that may help establish a more effective consensus among policy makers, the GoB, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and donor agencies.

Saira Moinuddin

 Economic Impacts of Climate Change on Bangladesh_2008.pdf (795,7 kB)

 

Salt Starvation in British India – Consequences of High Salt Taxation in the Bengal Presidency, 1765 to 1878

Although much attention has been focused on the Salt Tax in 20^th century British India, it is in the earlier period of British rule, especially in the Bengal Presidency that the tax was far higher and the consequences far greater. This essay seeks to investigate the level of salt taxation between 1765 and 1878 and its effects on the retail price of salt relative to wages. It also explores the physiological necessity for salt and the peculiar nature of salt hunger, and the particular consequences of a high Salt Tax in times of famine.

Roy Moxham 

Salt Starvation in British India - Consequences of High Salt Taxation in the Bengal Presidency - 1765-1878.pdf (112,4 kB)