INTRODUCTION

This chapter is about the role of the state in the ethnogenesis of the Garos of Bangladesh. It explores how the successive states of East Bengal, East Pakistan, and Bangladesh have affected the self-perception and organization of the Garos. In order to study the dynamics of the relation between the Garos and these states, the chapter deals with a lengthy period of some 250 years. Such an approach allows us to obtain an overview of how states influence society and vice versa. It reveals that states are by no means static or timeless entities. The discussion focuses on the dynamics of state-society interaction rather than on its constants. Another, very practical reason for the choice of such a long period is the availability (or rather, absence) of historical documentation. The history of Garos in relation to the state is marked by long silences. One moment Garos feature in historical accounts, and the next moment they are invisible again.

I examine how both colonial and post-colonial states influenced the region. Major differences are to be expected between the two. The colonial state was primarily organized to the advantage of the British Raj. Its policies, including those claimed to be in favour of (certain segments of) the colonial population, are often approached with doubt and suspicion. For example, those measures that were adopted to protect so-called backward or tribal areas and people are often disposed of as divide-and-rule tactics. Post-colonial states, on the other hand, are expected to act in favour of the people. Its leaders have gone to great lengths to sustain an image of the state as “the natural spokesman for the people of society”, that is, the nation. Here we shall see that reality is more complex. Although post-colonial states shape and reshape the social and political landscape – thereby inevitably influencing the nation – they do not necessarily act in favour of the (whole) nation.

In this chapter, I have adopted two different perspectives.