The Tyranny of the Majority in Bangladesh: The Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts

This article analyzes how the construction of a national ideology in Bangladesh has been achieved through a style of majoritarianism based on "positional dominance." This has resulted in the construction of a national identity that is based on a particular form of Bengali identity that subsumes and indeed delegitimizes other claims to identity within the state, including claims made by indigenous communities to their own distinctive, place-based identity. Although a formal peace treaty has been signed, peace remains elusive due to the cultural hegemony of Bengalis over the indigenous peoples in the name of the supremacy of the national state.