A Shahid Minar in Lisbon: Long Distance Nationalism, Politics of Memory and Community among Luso-Bangladeshis

The literature on what could be called a Bangladeshi transnational public sphere has grown significantly in the last few years and has focused mainly on translocal political activities and ways of belonging for British Bangladeshis and Bangladeshi immigrants in the UK. However, this public sphere in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: José Mapril
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud 2014-07-01
Series:South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3733
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The literature on what could be called a Bangladeshi transnational public sphere has grown significantly in the last few years and has focused mainly on translocal political activities and ways of belonging for British Bangladeshis and Bangladeshi immigrants in the UK. However, this public sphere includes other locations and actors that have so far been left out of the picture. Based on a situational analysis of the celebrations of Sahid Dibosh (Language Day) in a square in Lisbon in 2011, this article explores the political dimensions of the transnational social fields that exist between Portugal and Bangladesh. The main arguments are firstly that this Bangladeshi transnational public space connects Bangladeshis in the UK, Bangladesh and other locations, such as Portugal, through symbols, long distance nationalism and politics of memory. Secondly, the paper argues that these are interpreted according to the contexts where Bangladeshis live and thus assume new meanings.
ISSN:1960-6060