Eva Gerharz: „The Construction of Identities: The Case of the Chitta ...

Construction of Identities in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
different methods and changed perspectives, which are known as triangulation in the
qualitative research methodology (Flick 1995, 250), was an important component of my research
process. Besides difficulties concerning the field-entry the police of Bandarban became
suspicious about my work. They realised that I am not just a tourist I had to visit the police
office regularly to report about my activities. Having only a few references to justify my stay
in Bandarban, no direct contact to anyone who could defend me, the situation turned to be
problematic and caused an earlier departure than had been planned. Again, that problem of
being thought a spy must be considered as a danger of certain field work in general (Bernard
1995, 144). It would have been helpful to have an official research permit.
Altogether I interviewed some members of the traditional elite of the Bandarban Marma circle,
employees of various developmental organisations from different departments 29 , activists
in the JSS office in Bandarban and the political elite, some intellectuals of various occupations,
members of the credit programmes of IDF, employees and students of a residential
school and “normal” families. The interviewees were mainly Marma, a few Tripura and
Murong as well as Bengalis. Although my sample and the information I got satisfied me afterwards,
the feeling of not getting “real access” to the field was there during my stay in
Bandarban. Without being in close touch with someone, fieldwork can turn out to be problematic.
3. The Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Nation-State
“To understand the problem of the Chittagong Hill Tracts it is essential to have some knowledge
about the history”, said an informant before he started to explain the historical
development of the conflict between the Hill People and Bangladesh. For my research purposes,
the analysis of the development of the ethnic segregation and the construction of
identity, investigating history and development of the nation-state is particularly essential.
In this chapter I will roughly describe some major changes in the period of British colonialisation
and the massive ones during the Pakistan period, in which the patterns of life changed
totally especially with the establishment of the nation state and the construction of the Kaptai
dam 30 . After Bangladesh became independent in 1972, the Bangladesh nationalist movement
created rising insurgency, which lasted until December 1997. A peace treaty between the
29 For example an agriculturist, a health worker and co-ordinators of credit programmes
30 As an very important issue the Kaptai Dam will not just be of interest here but in Chapter 4.1 as well.