This research paper explores the multifaceted role of women as witnesses during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, with a specific focus on their embodiment of the nation at war and the profound impacts the conflict had on their lives. I base my analysis on Tahmima Anam's novel "A Golden Age" to provide insights into the practices of witnessing performed by and on women, and their relationship to national and female identities. I argue that women's witnessing of the war can be extrapolated from their specific social, corporeal, and physical spaces and the ways in which these spaces were utilized and received by women and their counterparts. Using postcolonial theory and witness theory stemming from trauma studies, this paper examines the dynamics within women’s spaces to reconsider women's negotiations for autonomy from within predefined social categories during the war. My research highlights the diverse external pressures faced by different groups of women during the Bangladesh Liberation War, underscoring the need to redefine ethical and empathic witnessing when engaging with narratives of trauma. By expanding the discourse on cross-cultural trauma studies, this paper emphasizes the importance of responsibly addressing and engaging with testimonies of crisis. The examination of women's witnessing, and their spatial positioning contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities of gender, identity, and witnessing in times of conflict. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This thesis aims to expand the discourse on women’s witnessing during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War to ensure readers, academics, and governments encounter testimonies of crisis with ethics, empathy, and responsibility. I examine Tahmima Anam’s "A Golden Age" to reconsider how women and women’s spaces like the home and female bodies are witnessed by nations. Additionally, I explore how women witnessed the nation and other women during the war while negotiating national duty with personal identity.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 331-404) Attempts to contribute toward greater understanding of the urbanization process in Bangladesh. Focuses particularly on the rural-urban migration process, explaining the causes of mobility and stability and the consequences flowing from that movement for the wellbeing of migrants and their families.

With the world's fourth-largest Muslim population, Bangladesh is an important case study in the exploration of what it means to be a 'secular' country with Islam as a state religion. One important mechanism through which to analyse the relationship between religion and the state is through the country's laws, and family laws are especially significant in that they represent the state's determination of which long-standing social and religious practices find their way into legislation as a representation of societal values. As with many other countries with significant Muslim populations, personal status legislation has remained relatively static in the years following independence, despite attempts at change. Inspired by studies of negotiations between state and civil society actors in bringing about changes in law, this study analyses the evolution of family laws for Muslims in Bangladesh, revealing a range of voices using such laws in their negotiations between competing notions of 'Islam' and 'secularism' and their role in governance. Using parliamentary and Supreme Court records, newspaper archives, expert interviews, and secondary literature, I show that there has been little change in personal status legislation beyond procedural simplification, and that the judiciary and policymakers have had a tendency to support freedom of religious practice except in family laws. This study explores why this is the case, and focuses on the discourse around the National Women Development Policy and its clause on property and inheritance as the greatest point of contention in enhancing women's rights in family laws.

Résumé en français<p>Le sujet de notre thèse de doctorat consiste en l’analyse du corpus céramique issu des fouilles de Mazar, une zone située sur le Rempart Sud du site de Mahasthangarh au Bangladesh, qui se sont déroulées de 2001 à 2011. Toutefois le matériel étudié comprend la poterie découverte de 2006 à 2011. <p>Trois périodes chronologiques ont été individualisées sur base de datations au C14, de structures construites et de monnaies :les niveaux anciens de l’époque Maurya, les niveaux intermédiaires des époques Shunga, Kouchane et Gupta et les niveaux supérieurs de l’époque post-Gupta à la conquête musulmane au début du 13ème siècle, aussi appelée Early Medieval Period. <p>Les objectifs consistaient à établir une chrono-typologie pour chacune des trois périodes de manière à mettre en évidence les variations de productions et de formes d’une époque à l’autre et de comparer les résultats de Mahasthangarh avec ceux d’autres sites de la région du Bengale.<p>Pour atteindre le premier objectif, les critères retenus sont directement liés au principe de la chaîne opératoire qui consiste à identifier, au travers de l’analyse du tesson, les étapes qui ont conduit au résultat final (sélection et préparation de la matière, façonnage, finition et décoration, cuisson). <p>Les résultats de l’analyse relative aux niveaux anciens ont montré que le corpus céramique était composé de divers groupes de Red Wares dont les différences résident dans la finesse de la pâte et le traitement des surfaces, de céramiques grises et de Fine Black Slipped Ware identifiées par les anciens céramologues à de la Northern Black Polished Ware. Au sein de ce dernier groupe, certains tessons de fond et de panse arborent un décor ‘rouletté’. L’assemblage présente des productions et des formes similaires au reste du Bengale. Le matériel des niveaux intermédiaires est trop fragmentaire pour que l’on puisse en tirer des conclusions sur un assemblage typique. Nous retrouvons les mêmes productions que lors des niveaux précédents avec cependant une diminution de la céramique fine. <p>En revanche, les niveaux supérieurs témoignent de l’établissement progressif aux alentours des 6ème et 7ème siècles d’un nouveau faciès céramique composé de céramiques communes (Medium Red, Red-Buff, Grey Wares) dont le répertoire formel est presque identique, et de céramiques à pâte plus fine et avec un engobe de couleur rouge ou gris-brun. L’assemblage évolue très peu au cours de la période et c’est seulement au tournant des 12ème-13ème siècles que nous assistons à une augmentation de la production des céramiques fines engobées. Les niveaux supérieurs ont également livré des tessons de céramique à glaçure turquoise et de la céramique chinoise (céladon des ateliers de Longquan et porcelaine des ateliers de Jingzhen et Dehua) datés de la même période. La comparaison avec les autres sites du Bengale ont démontré que la céramique de l’Early Medieval Period présentait des caractéristiques communes au niveau des techniques de fabrication (assemblages d’éléments façonnés séparément) et de décoration (incision, application, estampage), tout comme pour le répertoire morphologique au sein duquel les mêmes catégories formelles ont été identifiées. Toutefois, certaines différences d’ordre stylistique entre les productions nous permettent d’affirmer que des faciès locaux existaient. /<p>Summary in English<p>The subject of my PhD comprises the analysis of the corpus of pottery discovered during the excavations in Mazar, an area on the southern Rampart Mahasthangarh site in Bangladesh, which took place from 2001 to 2011. However, the studied material includes pottery discovered from 2006 to 2011.<p>Three time periods were individualized based on C14 dates, on the built structures and on the coins: former levels of the Maurya period, the intermediate levels of Shunga, Kushan and Gupta periods and superior levels of the post-Gupta period to the Muslim conquest which took place in the early 13th century, a period also called Early Medieval Period.<p>The goals were to create a chrono-typology for each of three periods in order to highlight the variations of wares and forms from one period to another and to compare the results of Mahasthangarh with other sites in the Bengal region.<p>To achieve the first objective, the criteria are directly related to the principle of the operating chain of identifying, through the analysis of the shard, the steps that led to the final product (selection and preparation of the material, shaping, finishing and decoration, cooking).<p>The results of the analysis relating to former levels (Maurya period) showed that the ceramic corpus was composed of various groups of Red Wares whose differences lie in the fineness of the clay and surface treatment, of Grey Wares and of Fine Black Slipped Ware identified by some ceramologists in the Northern Black Polished Ware. Within this latter group some body-shards and bottom-shards wear a “chattered” decoration. The assemblage includes same kind of wares and shapes than the rest of Bengal. The material of intermediate levels is too fragmented so that we can draw conclusions on a typical assemblage. We find the same pottery as in previous levels but with a reduction in the fine ceramics.<p>On the other hand, superior levels testify to the gradual establishment of a new ceramic facies, around the 6th and 7th centuries, which is composed of common pottery (Medium Red Ware, Red-Buff Ware, Grey Ware) with almost same shapes, and pottery made with finer clay and a red or brown-grey slip. The assemblage changes very little during the period and it is only at the turn of the 12th to 13th centuries that we are seeing an increase in production of fine slipped wares. The higher levels have also delivered turquoise glazed ware and Chinese ceramic shards (celadon from the Longquan workshop and porcelain from Jingzhen and Dehua workshops) dated to the same period. Comparisons with other sites of Bengal have shown that the ceramic of Early Medieval Period had common characteristics in terms of manufacturing techniques (joining of several elements shaped separately) and decoration (incision, application, embossing), as for morphological répertoire in which the same formal categories were identified. However, some differences between the stylistic productions allow us to state that local facies existed. <p> / Doctorat en Histoire, art et archéologie / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1978 A38 / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

published_or_final_version / abstract / Urban Planning and Environmental Management / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

The concepts and definitions of housing affordability vary depending on the economic and social contexts of specific countries. However, irrespective of the context, housing affordability is not only influenced by the market conditions, but also by the prevailing policy environment, among other social and economic factors. The impact of the supply-side instruments of the policy environment, such as the regulatory regime, on the provision of affordable housing and housing affordability has been widely studied mainly in the context of developed or richer developing countries where strong regulatory and institutional frameworks exist. Little has been done in the context of developing countries with weak regulatory and institutional frameworks. This dissertation pioneers a study of this kind in the context of Bangladesh. It aims to investigate the housing affordability problems of the middle-income groups in Dhaka and to identify the underlying supply-side causes of the policy environment. A qualitative approach is adopted for this research. The social constructivist paradigm combined with the interpretive type of narration has been engaged as the research strategy. Both the ratio and residual-income based approaches of measuring housing affordability are used. Working definitions of housing affordability and income groups are also developed. Primary and secondary data were collected using various approaches such as document analysis, questionnaire survey and interviews. This study reveals that the formal housing market in Dhaka failed to provide affordable housing for the middle-income groups. The price-to-income ratio in Dhaka is one of the highest among the major South Asian cities. The middle-income groups struggle to maintain a minimum standard of living and largely rely on rental housing. However, rents are also unaffordable to them and Dhaka has the highest rent-to-income ratio in Asia. The housing units in the informal settlements could be affordable to them, but their social status inhibits them from living in these settlements. The regulatory and infrastructure development regimes are found to be non-enabling. Existing land-use regulations encourage land hoarding and land value speculation. Despite the weak urban growth control, the land price is very high and the land-supply fails to meet the demand. Further, the planning permission processes for residential development are significant time and cost inflators. Investment on infrastructure is not targeted to facilitate residential land supply. Serviced residential land is expensive due to the short supply of residential infrastructures. Institutionally, the non-participatory mode of governance, absence of a clear line of authority, and poor human resources capacities of the related government organizations are the main underlying causes of the non-enabling performance of supply-side regimes. This study recommends pro-active government initiatives to strengthen the enabling functions of the regulatory regimes. Utilization of planning tools such as planning incentives and mandatory contributions of affordable housing in private housing projects are recommended. Infrastructure investment targeting at facilitating residential land supply is suggested. Institutional restructuring and the establishment of a housing data bank are also recommended. This study enriches the literature related to the impact of the policy environment on housing by widening the debate to cover the developing countries. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy