English Literature in English Medium Schools in Bangladesh: The Question of Post-colonial1 Pedagogy (original) (raw)
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South Asia Research, 2023
This book is what one would call rojak in the Malay language, a scholarly smørgasbord, or a kind of thali of different dishes. It brings together published and unpublished critical writings, including essays, reviews, conference papers and an introduction for a book from 2007 to 2021. All of this is written by a well-known Bangladeshi academic, who suggests that this work is a sequel to Imperial Entanglements and Literature in English of 2007, a previous anthology by the same Dhaka-based boutique publisher that compiled Alam's scholarly contributions from 1980 to 2007. The book has 25 chapters, divided into 4 major parts, and comes with a 'Prefatory Note' and an 'Introduction' by the author.
Language wars: English education policy and practice in Bangladesh
Multilingual Education, 2014
Since its relatively recent independence in 1971, a total of seven national Education Commissions were formed, all of which placed various degrees of emphasis on the planning, pedagogy and learning of English in Bangladesh. Although the first Education Commission in 1974 aimed to 'decolonise' the education system and effectively exile English from the country, English has always remained a top priority in the school curriculum. Studies have linked this to residual colonial legacy inherited from the British education system. In the backdrop of persistent nationalistic favouritism towards Bengali, English is still widely an area-specific language confined to academia, and English education is often still seen as a purely instrumentalist endeavour. However it is also important as a symbol of socio-intellectual elitism and prestige. Such mixed, often incongruous positions can be seen reflected in the way successive National Education Policies have interacted with Commissions, which some critics have pointed out were formed by various regimes to advance their political agenda and ideology rather than to further the country's pragmatic needs and achieve well-articulated and time-sensitive policy outcomes. This article critically reviews the major trends of English education policy as enacted through four decades of reform and how English has played out in the education system in a developing country fast emerging as a rich ground of alternative educational research. Through a brief chronology of education policy and commissions and drawing on the comparative shifts of emphasis on English through their recommendations over a period of four decades, the article situates the place of English within the pragmatics of a postcolonial mindset and the socio-cultural expectations of stakeholders, and deals with the complexities of transition from policy to practice. In particular it problematises the almost irreconcilable friction between English and Bengali forged through the nationalistic sentiment born in the Language Movement of 1952, an episode unique in the history of the world. Rather than looking into the politics of policy planning and implementation, it looks towards the possibility of an education system that can bring about a healthy juxtaposition between heritage and modernity.
The implementation of the study of Bengali literature in the departments of English Language and Literature (ELL) in Bangladesh is to date a " to be or not to be " issue in most of the universities in general. Being a twice-born country, Bangladesh still seems to fail to liberate herself from the mental colonial legacy in many aspects of national life, including the university education. Taking a mixed-method approach, this paper examined the perceptions of different stakeholders within English studies-here, tertiary level teachers and students in ELL Department about the issues related to the integration of Bengali literature into English Studies at tertiary level. In doing so, we investigated: (a) learners' knowledge in English and Bengali literature, (b) the problems they face (if there is any) due to the limited Bengali practice at universities, (c) their perceptions of the potential benefits of studying Bengali at tertiary level, (d) their opinions regarding the inclusion of Bengali literature into English Studies and finally, (e) the linguistic medium in which Bengali literature can be presented to the learners at tertiary level. This paper might be one of the most important steps to decolonize the English Studies as it is argued here that in order to create intercultural awareness of the learners, their (learners') own socio-cultural and traditional values must be presented to them through native literature in original form. Keyw Keyw Keyw
Bangladeshi literature in English: A thrice born tradition
Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 2022
The use of the phrase “thrice-born” in the title of this introduction to a Special Focus on Bangladeshi literature in English has connotations of uneasy or interrupted beginnings.Perhaps we should start by clarifying that “thrice-born” here bears no relation to the Sanskrit word dvija or “twice-born” or the title of Meenakshi Mukherjee’s (1971) book on Indian English novels, The Twice Born Fiction. Dvija is used in the Hindu social system to refer to the elitism and privilege of the three upper castes: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas. Mukherjee uses the term “twice born” to explain the derivative and hybrid nature of Indian English fiction, in which Indian tropes, thoughts, and dialogues are “translated” into the colonizer’s speech. In contrast, we have used the expression “thrice born” to suggest the evolutionary nature of Bangladeshi anglophone literature: that it has developed through three historical phases, during which the geographical territory that now constitutes Bangladesh has gone through several political rebirths and renamings: Bengal/East Bengal (1905–11),1 East Pakistan (1947–71), and Bangladesh (1971–). To put it differently, although Bangladesh is a relatively new country, to gain a holistic picture of how the anglophone literary tradition has developed in this geographical space, one needs to look back to its beginnings during the British colonial period, take stock of English writings during the Pakistani phase, and, finally, investigate the state of the tradition and its challenges and achievements, especially after the country’s attainment of self-rule in 1971. This will help establish the nature of cultural continuity in a land that has gone through a political whirlwind since the colonial era and been subjected to changes of political identity on multiple occasions.
THE REFLECTION OF COLONIAL POWER IN BANGLADESH: A CASE STUDY
THE REFLECTION OF COLONIAL POWER IN BANGLADESH: A CASE STUDY, 2022
Britain having many colonies and commonwealth countries has been regarded as one of the most significant countries in the world due to its international politics. Tracing back to 12 th century, kings and queens had an authority over other countries from which Britain could benefit economically, culturally, financially, or simply socially in terms of cultural interactions. While there are a wide range of countries and regions that Britain has dominated, Bangladesh holds a crucial position as it has witnessed a colonial process and rise of British power within its boundaries. Besides having boundaries and close associations with India, which was a former colony of Britain, Bangladesh has experienced the rise of British power and penetration of Britishness in terms of society, politics, institutions, education, social norms and ultimately language. This paper aims at presenting the development of colonial power which was achieved by Britain in Bangladesh touching upon demographic aspects, cultural norms, language and institutional things by at the same time offering a general overview regarding the outcomes of colonization in Bangladesh.
English Literature and Composition Studies in Bangladesh: Conflict, Co- existence, and Globalization
English literature and Composition studies never mesh given their origins and foci. English literature is essentially British in most places outside of the United States. Composition is essentially North American. Literature explores written texts while Composition creates new texts. Composition studies has been a relatively new intellectual formation compared to the long history of English literature, which has been the parent discipline of English studies all over the world, including in Bangladesh. However, while Composition studies is acknowledged as a legitimate sub-field of English studies around the globe, it is not integral to English studies in Bangladesh until recently. English literature continues to define and dominate English studies in Bangladesh. In the context of Bangladesh, Composition is the ultimate Other. At the same time, English studies independent of composition is ineffective, incomplete. This article explores the ontological conflict between English literature and Composition studies in the context of Bangladesh. It, then, establishes the connection between English literature and Composition studies. Finally, it discusses the ramifications of globalization affecting English literature and Composition studies in the landscape of English studies in Bangladesh.
There has been a considerable debate in the postcolonial world as to the language choice of the writers, since there is an inseparable connection between language, ideology and identity. Ngugi Wa argues that people should write in their ethnic languages to liberate their productive forces from foreign controls. On the contrary, Chinua Achebe is concerned with the pragmatic necessity of English. Bangladesh, being a former colony of Anglophone Empire, is not free from this debate.