PORTRAYING THE ETHNOGRAPHIC LANDSCAPE OF THE TEA WORKERS' COMMUNITIES IN SYLHET: A MORPHOLOGICAL APPROACH

Abstract

The historic tea estates are part of the cultural landscape of Sylhet and attract numerous tourists. However, most tea-workers living in these areas have lower social profiles and, to some extent, are isolated from mainstream society. The tea-workers communities have diverse ethnic backgrounds, mainly from the neighbouring country - India and different parts of Bangladesh. Initially, within the Tea estates, they were settled in housings developed as 'labour lines', and later those areas were modified and expanded by the communities. There are issues related to space crisis, municipal services, and other amenities such as health care and education in their housing areas, but their settlement patterns have inherent traditional features crafted by the vernacular adaptations. This study aims to identify and analyse their settlement areas' ethnographic landscapes and understand the relationships between their housing morphology and socio-cultural beliefs. We have selected three different communities from the three (03) major tea estates, i.e. Lakkatura, Malnichara and Khadimnagar estate. We developed a conceptual framework incorporating principles from ethnographic landscape and spatial morphology. For ethnographic analysis, we have investigated the socio-cultural profiles (including ethnic origin, demography, financial status, community participation and socio-cultural activities), housing policies and vernacular techniques through field surveys and secondary sources. For morphological analysis, we have adopted McCartney, 2018's framework that helped characterise the study areas' spatial dimensions. Finally, we have developed a typological understanding from the combined approach that outlines the ethnographic landscape of the selected tea-workers communities in Sylhet. Cross-cultural investigations in future can further explore how ethnic landscape changes with migration movements and aid in the planning and policy-making of informal settlements.