Mobility through affinal relations bangladeshi middle class, transnational immigrants and networking

MOBILITY THROUGH AFFINAL RELATIONS: BANGLADESHI ‘MIDDLE CLASS,’ TRANSMIGRANTS AND NETWORKS SEUTY SABUR MSS (DU), M.A (Hiroshima University) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2010 MOBILITY THROUGH AFFINAL RELATIONS: BANGLADESHI ‘MIDDLE CLASS,’ TRANSMIGRANTS AND NETWORKS SEUTY SABUR NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2010 Acknowledgements I am not too sure whether to feel happy or sad writing this acknowledgement This Ph.D has never been about academic accomplishment for me Rather, it was part of the journey which started almost a decade ago These years were all about ‘living’ every acknowledgeable idea, pushing the boundaries and unleashing ‘selves.’ None of these would have been possible without the individuals I have encountered all these years My thesis is dedicated to the families who allowed me to intrude upon their lives both in Bangladesh and the U.K over these years Their patience, enthusiasm and support made this thesis what it is today Their courage to share the complicated narratives of convoluted pasts and intimate lives were the most precious moments I have experienced as a researcher Their enormous trust humbled me I am indebted to my colleagues and friends, especially Shayda, Elma, Mithu fuppi, ma and my mother-inlaw for connecting me with these families both in Dhaka and London I am grateful to Samya, my research assistant who shared the burden of recording my short interviews Thanks would be too short of a word to show my gratitude to Tarefa fuppi and Jasim fuppa who not only offered their homes as my base in London, but also introduced me to the members of their social networks (both British and British Bangladeshi) and showered me with their affection It may sound like a cliché but I truly experienced living the British Bangladeshi professional’s life whilst staying at the Rickmansworth’s home Thanks to Habib Bhai for looking after all the small details of my everyday life and providing me with gastronomic delights everyday during my Brit days Finally, I want to thank Taiyan bhai and Samya (Glasgow), Yamima and Nasim bhai (Liverpool), and Adnan and Samia (London) for being wonderful hosts and letting me stay in their respective dens I want to thank NUS for providing a generous scholarship and research fund that allowed me to push my limits as a researcher and conduct a transnational ethnography Thanks to the admin staff in the Department of Sociology for their constant logistical support Special thanks go to Ms Raja who always came with a reassuring smile taking care of all of our problems I want to thank our Head of the Department Prof Chua Beng-Huat for chasing me to finish my thesis on time Thanks also go to Prof Bryan Tuner for training us in critical Social Theory, thereby providing a solid foundation for my thesis Thanks go to A/P Vedi R Hadiz, A/P Roxana Waterson, A/P Anne Raffin, Dr Leong Wai Teng, Dr Misha Petrovic and Prof Tong Chee Kiong for registering my existence and keeping track of my progress My heartfelt thanks also go to the members of my i thesis committee, A/P Eric Thompson and Dr Jennifer Jarman, for their interest in my thesis and constant encouragements Most importantly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, A/P Vineeta Sinha She allowed me to have space to grow as an independent researcher and provided me the outmost support (both intellectual and emotional) whenever I needed it Her faith in my work and constant encouragement boosted my confidence She did a magnificent job as an editor and helped me to get best out my data My life revolved around this thesis for last four years While I was challenging the norms and every social relationship theoretically, together with my friends I tried to create a social space which we could call our own My graduate clan provided me with a disproportionate amount of love and respect beyond words I want to thank Sahoo for being a loving elder brother from day one until now, advising me about academic life I want to thanks my previous roomies Alka and Sanja for making me a part of their family I want to thank Eugene, Dan, Yong Chong, Sheela, both Good and Bad Lou, Nic, Weida, Bon, Pam, Hui Hui, Fiona, Johan and Saiful in making the grad room a happening place and providing me with daily dose of laughter I also want to thank my MOD Squad—Chand, Audrey, Mel, Kritti, Shantini, Mamtu and Becky Boo—for their unconditional support, love, smiles and hugs It has always been reassuring to have Alex and Joyabi around I want to thank Thom, Zdravko and Rahul for providing me with a non-gendered space in which to live in and helping me to create a ‘home’ full of grace and humility I have tortured Z the most in the last one year and a half with all my new ideas about my thesis and beyond and we created a precious emotional/intellectual landscape of our own I want to thank my sunshine and constant companion Nuh Bee who validated my existence every day and brought out strongest person in me And I am not ashamed of torturing you either with all the editorial work mutual slavery I want to thank my parents and parents-in-law for being the magnificent people they are and allowing me to live my life in the way I imagined Thanks to Ato and Adi for being patient sisters and taking care of my responsibilities in Dhaka when I was not around I am forever indebted to Shaian for bearing with me, understanding me and entertaining all my whims and fancies and let me be Without you, I would not have been able to make it and still be sane Finally, my heartiest gratitude goes to A/P Manosh Choudhury who questioned all my ideas and shattered my intellectual entity, making me think critically about the norms I have accepted unquestionably, which eventually instigated the birth of this thesis ii Table of Contents Acknowledgement Summary List of Tables List of Figures i v vi vii Chapter One: Introducing the Research 1.1 Towards the Research Problematic 1.2 Emergence of the ‘Middle Class’ in Bangladesh 1.3 Conceptual Framework 1.3.1 Middle Class in the Industrial and Post-industrial West 1.3.2 Social Networks: Marriage and Friendship 1.3.3 Diaspora and Transnational Connections 1.4 Thesis Outline 13 13 23 35 43 Chapter Two: Introducing the Research Framework and Locales 2.1 Engagement with the ‘Field’ 2.2 Research Locales: Dhaka, London, Glasgow and Liverpool 2.3 Research Framework/Methodology 2.3.1 Phase One (January 2005 to July 2007) 2.3.2 Phase Two (August 2007 to March 2008) 2.3.3 Phase Three (April to July 2008) 2.4 A Gyno-centric Methodology 2.5 Unit of Analysis 2.6 Challenges of Research 2.7 Insight for Future Ethnographic Work 46 49 52 53 55 60 64 65 65 67 Chapter Three: Bangladeshi Class Society 3.1 Prelude 3.2 Class Formation in Bangladesh 3.2.1 The British Empire and the Emergence of the Salaried Middle Class 3.2.2 From Pakistan to the Birth of Bangladesh: Middle Class taking Centre Stage 3.3 Spatial Distribution of the Metropolitan Middle Class in Dhaka 3.4 Introducing the Actors 3.4.1 Cultural Capital: Education 3.4.2 Economic Capital: Occupation 3.4.3 Domesticity and Consumption Patterns 3.4.4 Social Capital 3.5 Introducing the Main Protagonists 69 70 70 80 88 93 94 97 100 104 106 iii Chapter Four: Tying Knots: Transcending Boundaries through Affinal Relations 4.1 Prelude 4.2 Marital Bliss: Social Construction of Marriage 4.3 Matchmaking Ventures 4.3.1 Criteria for Choosing a Potential Partner 4.3.2 Pattern of Matchmaking 4.4 Actors and Collaborators 4.5 Journey to the Unseen and the Unknown: Marrying Abroad 4.6 Failed Marriages: Disjuncture 4.7 Affinal Relations, Familial Network, Marriage and Class Oligarchy Chapter Five: The ‘Family’ Extended: Friends, Social Networks and the Power of the ‘Middle Class’ 5.1 Prelude 5.2 Middle Class Composition and Mobility 5.3 Rights and Rituals of Friendship: Composition and Social Resources 5.4 Familial Friendship: Succession of Social Capital 5.5 Women as Keepers of Social Networks 5.6 Distribution of Power 125 127 132 133 142 151 160 165 169 172 174 186 201 208 210 Chapter Six: Home away from Home: British Bangladeshi Professionals and their Social Networks 6.1 Prelude 216 6.2 South Asians in the U.K 217 6.3 Trajectories of Bangladeshi Middle Class Transmigrants in the 224 U.K 6.4 Class Composition of British Bangladeshi Professionals 234 6.5 Making ‘Home’ away from Home 240 6.6 Social Networks of British Bangladeshi Professionals 246 6.7 ‘Home’ in Transmigrants’ Narratives 254 Chapter Seven: Conclusion: New Elite Formation in Bangladesh 260 Bibliography 266 iv Summary My doctoral thesis is infused with the assumption that the affluent sections of Bangladeshi ‘middle class’ have formed their oligarchy over three decades Their networks have been instrumental for them in the consolidation of their power, while new forms of alliances have been forged through marriages, thus forming and reproducing power at ‘home’ and abroad My thesis traces the process of ‘middle class’ mobility through affinal relations The endeavour was to examine how marriages are instrumental in strengthening, or weakening, alliances among the dominant sections of this affluent group of the ‘middle class.’ Thus, the research seeks to unpack strategies of networking—through a focus on affinal relationships— of the metropolitan middle class over the last three decades As such, the central research queries are: How are marriages preferred among the middle class? How social arrangements of a marriage secure social power and status at a particular moment? How does this social power transcend the nation-state through personal networks at home and abroad? Eventually, my research addresses these questions by focusing on members of the metropolitan ‘middle class’ in Bangladesh and their cosmopolitan counterparts in London v List of Tables Table 1: Spatial distribution of middle class 92 Table 2: Occupational profile of the informants 99 Table 3: Fixed assets of the informants 100 Table 4: Monthly expenditure 102 Table 5: Transformations in education, occupation and inherent 176 property in three generations Table 6: The distribution of schools according to their ‘clan’ 211 Table 7: Estimate of the growth of the Bangladeshi population in the 224 U.K., 19612001 Table 8: Structure of employment (% by column) and Bangladeshi 236 representation Table 9: Transformations in education, occupation and inherent 238 property in four generations across multiple locations vi List of Figures Figure 1: Research locales: Dhaka, London, Glasgow and Liverpool 51 Figure 2: Network used for selecting the research population 54 Figure 3: Female-centric social gatherings 56 Figure 4: Map of Dhaka City 90 Figure 5: Gender distribution of HH 101 Figure 6: Monthly consumption in Taka 104 Figure 7: Wedding photo 127 Figure 8: Sample of Matrimonial Biodata (groom) 140 Figure 9: Sample of Matrimonial Biodata (bride) 141 Figure 10: Marriage pattern 142 Figure 11: A wedding group photo – Family and friends from three 164 continents Figure 12: Showing 689 links among 114 friends of the author 200 Figure 13: Social network 203 Figure 14: Structure for potential oligarchy 214 Figure 15: Reasons for migration 230 Figure 16: Gathering of family members and friends from the U.K., 258 Luxembourg and Bangladesh at Tarifa’s Garden (Rickmansworth) in the Summer of 2008 vii Chapter One Introducing the Research 1.1 Towards the Research Problematic Being born and raised in Bangladesh, I am well aware of the existence of a group of people—a rather affluent section of Bangladeshi society—who rely extensively on their social networks to accomplish a variety of goals My sheer inquisitiveness for understanding the process of forging connections amongst this particular group led me to conceptualise this piece of research in specific ways At a theoretical level, I was looking for an entry point that would make sense of these networks and for helping to understand the ideological positions and practices of this group It seemed to me that it sensible to approach marriage as such a trigger through which networks (both kin and non-kin) are set in motion and core alliances made As such, I focus primarily on affinal relations in order to understand how these groups are formed, how they are connected to each other, what their incentives are for establishing and sustaining these connections and being part of these networks, and how these networks function and are extended In short, I suggest that the everyday practices of this group carry enormous sociological insight for understanding the phenomenon of class relations This is my primary motivation for constructing a research project around my initially lay observations Given my training as an anthropologist and having attained some familiarity with contemporary sociological theories, many questions about how to approach this group surfaced at the outset of my research To begin with, I have struggled with the question of what to label my interest group Initially, I thought of using the determined the contour of the affluent middle class in Bangladesh; this was a prerequisite for the emergence of the British Bangladeshi professional class The expansion of a British Bangladeshi professional network was conditional to the growth of the middle class in Bangladesh The symbiotic relationship and the lifestyle of the Bangladeshi middle class and British Bangladeshi professionals united them, transcending national boundaries Figure 16: Gathering of family members and friends from the U.K., Luxembourg and Bangladesh at Tarifa’s Garden (Rickmansworth) in the Summer of 2008 From the intergenerational data I have amassed, my intention was to illustrate how ‘local’ factors contribute to the formation of the global/transnational/cosmopolitan middle class From the presented cases, I have argued that through the liberal values, accumulation of capital and particular lifestyle, this globe-trotting class is capable of creating a niche anywhere in the world The experiences of these professionals are not 258 even comparable to the Bangladeshi migrants from a working class background The former group has proven to be an asset for the British state and members have been rewarded with prestigious titles like the Order of the British Empire (OBE), whereas the latter are considered a liability by the state because of their underachievement in every sphere of life I conclude my arguments by saying that tertiary education, specialised occupation, accumulation over the generations and aspirations collectively enabled these British Bangladeshi professionals to maintain a cosmopolitan lifestyle Their lifestyle complies with a kind of pluralism that the British state professes through the idea of ‘multiculturalism,’ rendering these professionals loyal to the state and a ‘British’ first before a ‘Bangladeshi.’ They are rewarded for their loyalty and receive the same privileges as any other British citizen Their class position dominates over their ethnic identity or their nationality These groups act as an intermediary for the state They are chosen as leaders and represented as model citizens of Britain for the ‘other’ Bangladeshis who are still ‘stuck’ in their traditional values and practices These transmigrants/cosmopolitans are not only appreciated in Britain, but are equally appreciated by the Bangladeshi state which makes available certain privileges for them for investing in the real-estate and industry sectors At a societal level, this group is one of the most privileged groups in Dhaka, not least because of their influential social connections and networks in both countries Their knowledge, experience and lifestyle are what new sections of the affluent middle class aspire towards This group works as an agent/vanguard, translating the global trend of consumption/ideas in everyday life and making it adaptable for local levels, i.e., in Dhaka In so doing, they reconfigure the global trends into local life as being avantgarde and providing moral leadership for the other classes 259 Chapter Seven Conclusion: New Elite Formation in Bangladesh When poor live their life you call it survival, when middle class live their life you define it as lifestyle.104  Bratya Raisu I started my research by wanting to produce an ethnography of the affluent middle class of Bangladesh This research began with a very personal interest in exploring the classed-gendered identity of individuals who are members of this class Being an anthropologist and a member of this class myself, I took the opportunity to explore the dynamics of this class through my research My awareness of the privileges and the all-encompassing nepotism of this class created certain trepidation for me at the start At the same time, it intrigued me and the initial curiosity grew into an intellectual quest creating a new excitement I started sharing my ideas with colleagues and both members of this class and outsiders I soon realised that class differentiation was not merely a terminological issue, but rather a lived experience of our everyday life I began my thesis with the dramatic event of my own marriage, full of the suspense and sheer boredom of sitting/standing on a stage, greeting thousands of un/familiar guests, staring blankly at the feast of wedding receptions I saw political leaders of opposite camps shaking hands, joking with each other, the Chief-of-Army staff 104 Bratya Raisu is the Editor of literary page ‘Arts’—part of the news website bdnews24 (http://arts.bdnews24.com/?p=1668) He published my review on Das Capital by Ebadur Rahman in 2008, while I was doing my fieldwork This book was literary manifestation of the affluent lifestyle of Dhakaites We had long debates before and after the book review was published This quotation from Raisu intrigued me, which was merely a rant in response to my review Nevertheless, he was echoing the distinction my informants were trying to assert all their lives 260 patting his friend’s back who happened to be a veteran leftwing politician, the judge of the Supreme Court, leading feminists, bureaucrats and corporates sitting at one table laughing out loud I saw my aunts and friends who came all the way from Canada and Europe just to attend the wedding, dressed for the occasion It was amazing to see the interaction of these individuals and the social, cultural amalgamation of all The thing that came to my mind was: How was it possible for such alliances to occur among individuals from apparently opposite poles? My research started with this simple problematic To solve this puzzle of alliance, I started looking for other scattered pieces of the jigsaw The approach was to explore the lived experiences of this cluster, follow their strategies of forming alliances and contemplate its consequences My everyday observations about this particular class made me aware of the complexity of class compositions and class relations Through the intergenerational data of specific individuals, I encountered the most useful strategy to understanding the complex trajectories of their lives Through specific slices of data, their everyday consumption and personal and professional lives unravelled before me As mentioned earlier, I began with marriage as a point of entry into these investigations to map out the social networks of these individuals However, this was not sufficient to chart the complete network each individual was embedded in I had to veer away from marriage to explore other forms of alliances these individuals made Friendship proved to be crucial for this particular class Finally, I examined the transformations within this class by tracing their web of networks which expanded transnationally 261 Those terms began with discussion of how the middle class was formed in Bangladesh I have provided minute details about Bangladeshi class formation in general and middle class formation in particular in the background (Chapter Three), something which has been important as a central backdrop Throughout my thesis, I have illustrated how individuals in this class category responded to the changes This affluent section of middle class was comprised of professionals Their life histories reveal that three different generations of professionals had absolutely different life experiences even though they are part of the ‘same’ class Confronting the conflicting experience of different generations led to the realisation that these individuals embodied the changes experienced by the class as a whole and manifested an upwardly mobile lifestyle Most of my informants from the third generation are employed as highly specialised professionals, working for donor agencies/international NGOs or located in multinational corporate sectors with a huge surplus in their income The inheritance of different forms of capital has added to their surplus, defining their unique class position This individual accumulation was part of a collective conditioning and was kept within the hands of a few chosen ones Marriage alliances and friendship soliderities are important strategies for forging and sustaining social networks These particular groups of individuals are, in fact, splinters of the affluent middle class The conflation of different kinds of capital generated a convergence of power among these individuals which transcends national boundaries By the third generation, this upwardly mobile affluent middle class was able to emerge as the new elite in the existing class hierarchy They are highly connected with international trade and commerce network and are leaders of the corporate world in Bangladesh As 262 mentioned earlier, they are not only leading professionals, but their connections with politics, defense, the bureaucracy and media have helped them reassert their oligarchic power I have already discussed how, after liberation, the state machinery was run by the middle class I want to add here that the relationship of this particular group of elites with the state has become even more complex and multilayered This new class category has not only emerged as elite in Bangladeshi society, but also reconfigured themselves as a cosmopolitan class They can afford a highly mobile lifestyle, owning two or more houses in different parts of the globe or sending their children for an overseas education The affluence in both homes was a complementary force that enabled them to have a ‘better’ life than their predecessors The back-and-forth flow of different forms of capital has created a fluid space for these individuals Their material connection with both homes and their credentials made them a floating and disembodied group of cosmopolitans Ironically, for this free-floating state to be sustained, these individuals needed to invest even more in transnational networks so that they can have a firm grounding in every home Their material connections and cosmopolitan virtues made them desirable citizens for both states, which eventually liberates them from having to declare any loyalty to any nation The very cosmopolitan virtue, taste and practices articulated in their lifestyle created a unique language of understanding between both the elite in Dhaka and the Bangladeshi British middle class in London Once again, I want to argue that the total size of the accumulations of particular individuals in Dhaka not only provided them with a headstart back home, but also in London and elsewhere So, their class position, cosmopolitan virtue and accumulations enabled them to access oligarchic power and maneouver this whenever it is necessary Hence, a new elite has emerged 263 as powerful group materially (and intellectually), having access to resources in both their homes The relation of this new elite to different forms of capital, access to resources and a monopoly over these lead to the widest gaps between the different sections of both the middle class and other classes in Bangladeshi society It is almost impossible for other classes to gain access to the circles of these new elites without the mentorship of this particular group With the appropriate mentorship, personal credentials (accumulations of capital through alternative/creative means) and charisma (personal depositions) may create the opportunity of inclusion for members of other sections of the middle class, as long as s/he subscribes to the norms of this class and conforms to a particular lifestyle The exclusion and inclusion into the elite class is primarily dependent on lifestyle—which creates broader distinctions of the class By assembling all the scattered pieces of the jigsaw, my thesis ends with the conclusion that the incessant flow of different forms of capital through different generations gave birth to a new elite in Bangladesh It also provides insights about the cosmopolitan nature of these emergent elites With this conclusion, my thesis returns to the age old sociological question of class I have taken an alternative path to understand class formation in general and the affluent section of the middle class in Bangladesh in particular I have chosen marriage and friendship as ways to unravel these class relations The approach adopted here contributes to future explorations of the multiplicity of class relations and helps in understanding the complexity of the social networks created by agents who are embedded within them locally and transnationally 264 This thesis has tracked the historical formation of the Bangladeshi middle class with a view to making sense 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