Songs of Freedom: A Story of Bengali Cultural Resistance

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2013-07-16
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Nii, Kathy
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Bertz, Ned
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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Despite the formidable amount of research on the creation of Bangladesh, very little is known about the role of Bengali cultural activists beyond a collective level. Historiography of the topic makes only scant mention of the cultural activists’ role. Scholars tend to focus on themes such as the political motives for independence, the armed resistance, and the West Pakistan atrocities. Politics and political leaders may have been at the forefront of the push for secession but the cultural activists fostered the growth of the independence movement. The cultural resistance movement provided the core objectives for the creation of an independent Bangladesh: secularism and tolerance. This project enhances our understanding of the cultural movement through a case study of a specific group of activists called the Bangladesh Mukti Sangrami Shipi Sangstha (the Bangladesh Freedom Cultural Troupe). The BMSS used music as their weapon in the struggle against West Pakistan. During the 1971 Liberation War, the BMSSS traveled to refugee camps in order to sustain morale and spread political awareness. This project utilizes oral history to uncover material not previously available in the historiography of the topic. This study will contribute to a growing discourse of individualized perspectives on the creation of Bangladesh.
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79 pages
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