04/08/2022
Canada Bangladesh Social Justice Action Research Alliance is organizing a critical discussion on Bangladesh's culture of classism tomorrow at 8 p.m. Dhaka time with Professor Manosh Chowdhury (Jahangirnagar University) and Professor Nadine Shaanta Murshid (University of Buffalo, USA). We'd love to have you join us and be part of this critical conversation.
"In an era wherein anyone can produce content, where the markets decide what is good and what is not, as demonstrated by their monetary and click commitments, what does it mean to have the police come down on a single content producer simply because it grates on hegemonic middle-class sensibilities?
It means middle-class membership is not merely economic – it is cultural. And lest we forget, anyone who defies the cultural norms set by a bygone era of middle-class educated elites must be reprimanded. It means Hero Alom may (or may not) have economic capital, but he does not have the social and cultural capital that one must have to be allowed to sing Tagore's songs. They are only to be sung by representatives of middle-class secular families who had ostadjis at home, those who know how to sing his songs with reverence of a particular kind." — Professor Nadine Shaanta Murshid
