Triangular Confluence: Islam and Modernity in Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate modernity in contemporary Bangladesh, going beyond the Secularism–Islamism binary, and arguing that modernity in Bangladesh should be understood by considering the triangular confluence of the impact of the Bengal Renaissance, the rise of Islamism, and the consequences of globalization. Based on history, the paper describes the movements and mechanisms of liberalist and Islamist modernizing approaches and examines their impact on dominant modernization debates in present Bangladesh. This paper examines why secularism became so contested in Bangladesh, why the conservative branch of Islamic modernity became dominant, and the complexities that globalization has added to modernity in Bangladesh.