RETRACTED: Socio-Political Representation of Dalit Fishing Community in Bangladesh in Harishankar Jaladas’s Novel Sons of the Sea

Abstract

Bangladeshi Dalit literature added a new chapter in the history of Dalit narratives. Dalits in Bangladesh are double marginalized because of their ‘low caste’ and ‘minority’ status in the Muslim majority state. In the post-partition and post-independence era, Harishankar Jaladas emerged as a strong voice of the Dalit fishing community. He gave representation to the community by writing about the social, political, economic and religious history of the Dalit fishing community through his novel Sons of the Sea. The major fishing communities like Malo, Jele, Jaladas, Jaila, Kaibarta and Keot hail from the Namashudra group and are treated as untouchables by the upper castes. They are all subjected to the negligence of administration and contempt of the society. The majority of mainstream Muslim society also treated them as ‘other’. The usurious moneylenders ( Dadonders) would keep them under perpetual penury for generations by providing them net, boat and a little amount of money in advance for their survival. The author depicts the cultural identity of the Jaladas community with their beliefs, customs, feelings and social setup that represent their segregation from the mainstream social framework. Their socio-economic and educational status is still below the margin. There is no such research work that could seriously ponder over their issues. The present research article is a modest attempt to study the socio-political and economic position of the Jaladas fishing community in contemporary Bangladesh by focusing on the social structure and examining history. This work also critically examines the post-colonial challenges that the marginalized fishermen community encountered due to their caste status in Bangladesh. The study has followed the historical method, textual analysis and a comparative reading of other literary and non-literary texts to strengthen and support the arguments raised in the study.