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Urbanization In Bangladesh:
Historical Development
and ContemporaryCrisis
Robert V. Kemper
Departmentof Anthropology
Southern MethodistUniversity
Introduction
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366 URBANANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
Paulo, Cairo, and Lagos - thanwe do about the poorest, least urbanized
regions of the world.In the presentpaper we address this imbalance by
consideringurbanizationin Bangladesh.
In thispaper we discuss the historicaldevelopmentof the urban sys-
tem in Bangladesh and then compare its contemporarycircumstances
withthose of otherAsian nations.In addition,we consider regionaldiffer-
entiationwithinthe Bangladeshi urban system in the lightof its specific
formsof specialization - includingpatternsof nucleation of localities,
components of technologyand labor, and centralizationof institutions
(Leeds 1979:229). We conclude by consideringthe implicationsof the
research agenda of local and foreignsocial scientists concerned with
problemsof urbanand societal integration in Bangladesh.
Historical Background
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 367
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368 URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 369
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370 URBANANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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Kemper URBANIZATION IN BANGLADESH 371
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372 URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 373
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374 URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 375
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376 URBANANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 377
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378 URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 379
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380 URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
Migration In Bangladesh
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 381
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382 URBANANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 383
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384 URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
The community settings for the urban poor are found in central as
well as peripheral areas of the cities. Their locations are dictated by near-
ness to places of employment, availabilityof low-cost shelter and marginal
exploitable lands. A tendency for poor households to cluster into slum
neighborhoods is everywhere apparent to even the casual observer of
urban life in Bangladesh. Despite random governmental effortsto "clean
up" the slums, the task is beyond the budget or personnel of any munici-
pal agencies.
As a result, clusters of thatch-roofed shacks are likely to be found
next door to new high rise office buildings. The urban areas are continu-
ally expanding and the urban poor follow along at the same time that
formerly rural villages are converted into marginal urban settlements.
Entrepreneurial slumlords as well as municipal agencies are involved in
constructing building sites and housing forthe urban poor. For example, I
have observed several instances in Dhaka where lands devoted to paddy
cultivation within the urban zone have been built up high enough to
avoid the worst of the annual floods. Then shacks were built and a com-
munitycreated. Typically these new settlements had very limitedservices
such as potable water, sewage, paved roads, or electricity.
Not surprisingly,the general health conditions for residents of such
areas are extremely poor. Dysentery, gastrointestinal diseases, malnutri-
tion, skin diseases, tuberculosis, and similar diseases are commonplace
and have much to do withthe relativelylow lifeexpectancy and high rates
of infantmortality.As a result of their survey, the CUS research team ar-
gued (1979:59) that "A sense of social and cultural alienation and apathy
was found to prevail among these poor communities in general. These
sentiments are manifested in deviant and unrestrained behavior . . ., a
sense of powerlessness, dependency on luck and chance rather than
justice and sometimes in a militantattitude to the authorities in particular
and the outside world in general."
In many of these urban communities the absolute and relative level of
deprivation has resulted in frustrationwith the local political structure.
Political parties opposed to the present military-dominated regime of
President Ershad findthat slum dwellers are willingto be involved in large
scale strikes and other political actions (e.g., overturning and burning
buses) intended to get immediate improvements in living circumstances
as well as longer term changes in the national political system. For in-
stance, Qadir (1975:82) has argued that "political parties were quite ac-
tive in mobilizing bastees forvotes. Observers of bastee life believed that
the bastee people were being used for political purposes, about which
they were very littleaware."
Effortsby local and international agencies to improve the conditions
for the urban poor have been sporadic and insufficient,especially in the
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 385
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386 URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 387
Conclusion
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388 URBANANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 389
REFERENCES CITED
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390 URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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Kemper URBANIZATIONIN BANGLADESH 391
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392 URBANANTHROPOLOGY VOL. 18(3-4), 1989
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