Vanishing Identity

We are not myths of the past, ruins in the jungle, or zoos. We are people and we want to be respected, not to be victims of intolerance and racism.
– Rigoberta Menchu, Guatemala Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1992

Thus, indigenous peoples have become the most marginalized and vulnerable group in the country of Bangladesh in its thirty eight years of independence. There is no constitutional recognition of the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh the issue of the identity of the indigenous peoples of Bangladesh has led to much debate and controversy, and on occasions has brought indigenous leaders and government officials into sharp disagreement. My project is a visual and narrative documentation of this Indigenous people express their daily life and their traditional and cultural condition in the society. I am using photography not only as a means of evidence, but also a link for the imagination.

Dinajpure, Bangladesh November-2009. KORA man with bow and arrow is preparing for hunting.The UN adopts an historic Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the General Assembly, 13th September 2007. States voted: 144 for, 4 against (US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand), 11 abstentions (including Bangladesh). - Copyright Monirul Alam
Srimangal, Bangladesh May-2008. A khashia mother preparing food. Khashia villages are usally on hilltops surrounded by betel nut trees - Copyright Monirul Alam
Dinajpure, Bangladesh November-2009. Many of indigenous people worships to nature and they keep this kind of plant in their houses named Tulshi tree. - Copyright Monirul Alam

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