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Keeping heritage in focus

Shahid Alam
There are books, and, then, there are good books.
Folklore in Context: Essays in Honor of Shanisuzzatnan Khan, edited by Firoz Mahmud, is one such monumental work. The essays honor Shamsuzzaman Khan, an unobtrusive, dedicated scholar of culture, and the pioneer of contextual and innovative folklore scholarship in Bangladesh, whose pithy, simple, but crucial, message is that, in Mahmud's words, "folk-
lore needs to be studied ously". ("Preface"). Thirty two authors from nine different countries, including such luminaries as Amartya Sen, Margaret Mills, and Henry Glassie, have contributed to the anthology. The 32 articles have been divided among 13 self-explanatory (content-wise) sections.
The way that Khan has
profiled the folklore of Bangladesh, it leaves no doubt about this country's fundamentally tolerant (of different faiths), secular, and Sufi tradition, besides his own broad secular outlook: Bangladesh is blessed with an "excellent social situation based on humanism and secular thought.... Mainly four streams mingled in this social thought process — tribal anthromorphism, Buddhist nihilism, Hindu vaishnavism and Muslim sufism." Religious fanaticism turning the country back to medieval times just does not fit the average Bangladeshi's psyche.
Amartya Sen, an illustrious son of Manikganj, has written a brilliant essay dissecting history to dispel myths and highlight truths that are at times mired under myriad half truths and outright falsehoods. Talking about the impact of the West on traditional societies, he poses the very pertinent question, "Isn't there a difference between cultural contact and culture dependence?"
Lala Rukh Selim draws a sympathetic picture of the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a truly pioneering woman of Bangladesh, Novera Ahmed. Way ahead of her times in the context of this
country's society, Novera's story is inspiring, even if depressing in terms of societal norms and strictures. Frank Korom is convinced that folk culture was used by the British raj as a part of its divida et impera policy. The distinguished scholar Henry Glassie comes up with a profound philosophical '...in Bangladesh...images,
not narratives (are) at the heart of the mythic system." Amalendu De alludes to the theoreticians of the two-nation theory from the time of Sir Syed Ahmed. He does not mention two Punjabis, both Hindus, one rather obscure and the other quite prominent in Indian history, who had actually proposed the division of India along communal lines.
Folklore in Context: Essays in Honor of Shanisuzzatnan Khan is rich in varied aspects of folklore, and discussed with much erudition by a bevy of competent scholars.