'The Rules of God': The Practice of Religion and Law in Rural Bangladesh Público
Hodge, Tiffany Ann (2016)
Abstract
This study examines religious and legal authority within the Muslim community of Char Fasson in rural Bangladesh, paying particular attention to the discursive and performative aspects of social actors' engagement in legal systems that operate alongside the formal judicial system of the modern nation-state. Furthermore, I analyze ways in which agency and decision-making are experienced and negotiated within the context of multiple legal authorities, particularly by women. This dissertation contextualizes legal decision-making in everyday life, within historical and textual frameworks, and emphasizes the religious aspects of family law as it adjudicated in Bangladesh.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1--- Introduction 1
1.1 Studying Religion Ethnographically 5
1.2 Legal Anthropology and Islamic Studies 9
1.3 Anthropology of Law 11
1.3.1 Law, Culture, and Power 12
1.3.2 Legal Anthropology in Muslim Communities 14
1.3.3 Legal Pluralism 16
1.4 Law in Islamic Studies 18
1.4.1 A Categorization of Fiqh19
1.4.2 Shari'a as Legal and Moral System 22
1.5 Studying Law in Bangladesh 23
1.5.1 An Orthopraxic Religion? 28
1.6 Contributions of the Dissertation 28
1.7 Organization of Dissertation Chapters 32
Chapter 2--- Fieldwork Site 36
2.1 Char Fassion 39
2.2 General History of the Area 43
2.3 Cyclones 47
2.4 Hindus and Muslims 49
2.5 The Distinctive Nature of the Field Site 50
2.6 The Rural and the Global 52
2.7 The Orphanage 53
2.8 The Ethnographic Experience 59
2.8.1 Relationship to Community 60
2.8.2 Research in Bangladesh: The Production of "Knowledge" 64
2.8.3 Daily Life in Historical Perspective 67
2.8.4 Ethics 69
Chapter 3--- The Range of Religious Authorities and the 71
Production of Authority
3.1 History of Islamic Law in South Asia 75
3.2 Formal Judiciary System 78
3.3 Mufti 79
3.4 Pir 84
3.5 Kazi 88
3.6 Salish Chairperson 95
3.7 Imam, Arabic Teacher 97
3.8 Power and Authority 98
3.8.1 Authority in Islam 101
3.8.2 A Mahfil106
3.8.3 Meeting with the Pir 111
3.9 Conclusion 112
Chapter 4--- Women's Authority in the Talim114
4.1 Women's Religious Authority 114
4.2 A Female Talim117
4.3 Conclusion 122
Chapter 5--- Narratives and Norms: (Re)Locating Religious Orthodoxy 125
5.1 Orthodoxy 129
5.2 The Imagined Text 132
5.3 Narrative in Law 134
5.3.1 Hadith and the Prophetic Biographies 134
5.3.2 Localizing Hadith 140
5.3.3 Gendered Process 143
5.4 Conclusion 143
Chapter 6--- The 'Hungry Tide': Loss of Land and Legal Arbitration 146
6.1 The Role of the Salish 149
6.2 Salish and the Fatwa 153
6.2.1 State Regulation 157
6.3 Salish and Land Disputes 159
6.3.1 Land as a Religious Concern 161
6.3.2 A Salish on Land Inheritance 163
6.4 Conclusion 168
Chapter 7--- Conclusion 171
Appendix 1-- Glossary of Terms 175
Bibliography 177
List of Tables and Figures
Photograph 1.1 8
Figure 1.1 21
Map 2.1 35
Photograph 2.1 38
Photograph 2.2 43
Map 2.2 46
Photograph 2.3 64
Photograph 3.1 88
Figure 3.1 90
Figure 3.2 91
Photograph 3.2 110
Photograph 3.3 112
Photograph 4.1 122
Photograph 5.1 127
Photograph 5.2 137
Figure 6.1 159
Photograph 6.1 165
About this Dissertation
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