Living on the margin: the positioning of the ‘Khumi’ within the sociopolitical and ethnic history of the Chittagong Hill Tracts

Abstract

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh has long been represented as a region of multi-ethnic setting, ethnic conflict and ethnic movement in South Asia. However, inter-ethnic relationship through the practice of unequal power and positions among the ‘Pahari’ (hill-people), the inhabitants of the CHT, has largely been ignored in the deeper understanding of the CHT. In addition, available CHT literature talks mostly about numerically dominant ethnic groups, whereas less attention is paid to the marginalized ‘Pahari’ ethnic groups. This paper examines the positioning of the ‘Khumi’, one of marginalized Pahari ethnic groups, within the larger canvas of CHT vs state across times and regimes. In an attempt to identify the position of the Khumi within the sociopolitical and ethnic history of the CHT, it seeks answers to three central questions: (a) How did the Khumi appear in the demographic configuration of the CHT? (b) How had they, along with the CHT and its other inhabitants, been dealt with during the colonial and postcolonial regimes? (c) How do they position themselves in the recurrent sociopolitical dynamics of CHT vs state relationship? The paper is based on critical consideration of secondary sources on the region in collaboration with relevant comprehensive data collected through ethnographic fieldwork undertaken from November 2005 to April 2007 in the CHT of Bangladesh.