Identity crisis
Roney, On e-mail
I read the article 'Overcoming identity crisis' by AK Abedur Rahman. He writes ' As I will make an attempt to focus on the identity crisis of the people of Bangladesh, I will critically examine the role of religion , language and culture towards the formation of nationhood .What makes me confused here is in culture study and in anthropology, in particular, culture doesn't seem separate from 'religion' and 'language'. Gustav Klemm offered in the mid-19th century an extremely modern definition of culture as ' custom, information, and skills, domestic and public life in peace and war, religion science and art ...it is manifest in the transmission of past experience to the new generation. Tylor in 1871 said, "Capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society."He also writes, "The creation of Bangladesh on the basis of Bengali nationalism was characterised by changes in their socio-economic and cultural activities, affecting their day-to-day life. Bangladesh consists of 68 thousand villages inhabited mostly by semi-literate and illiterate people. They constitute 80 per cent of total population. Religious sentiments are strong among these people. Bangladesh whose foundation was also based on secularism is nowadays witnessing the 'consequences' of bringing religion into political arena." We are turning a blind eye to our national values. Unfortunate is the nation whose history is distorted.
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