Religious Institution-based Community-hood and Identity of a 'Muslim Community' in a 'Remote' Rural Village in Bangladesh

In: Gross National Happiness: Practice and Measurement: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Gross National Happiness. Thimphu, Centre for Bhutan Studies 2008, pp. 257-276 . ISBN 978-99936-14-52-4

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Abstract

This paper addresses the notion of community and community-hood by making its ethnographic focus on a 'Muslim community' in rural Bangladesh. In applying the Resource Profiles Approach (RPA) and Subjective Well-Being (SWB), it understands the cultural constructions of community-hood in relation to the perceived religion there. It argues that the notion of community and community-hood in the contexts of rural Bangladesh is multi-dimensional and culturally rooted. Religion becomes important into the constructions as it implicates social, economic and political lives there. People tend to develop a religion driven identity though it becomes complex due to rapid transformation of village society.