Abstract
The Santal community is one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Bangladesh. Although dispersed, the Santàls mostly reside in the northern region of the country, maintaining their own culture and values. One of the district features of the Santali culture is art through which they reflect the norms, values and beliefs of the community. Specifically the art is considered as the cornerstone of the Santali culture. By using observation and indepth interviews, this paper focuses the patterns of arts along with their significance in the society, considering their socio-economic and cultural contexts from a Santal village located in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. The results indicate that Santals have distinct understandings, attitudes, beliefs, and practices about different types of arts which have been nurtured for ages bearing the significance and tradition in the community. In this case, all materialistic arts are seemed to have been originated based on their real experiences and wisdom. It is found that the arts in agriculture, housing, and disaster management have been developed in the contexts of local culture. However, due to integration policy by the state, the Santals have lost many of their traditional arts resulting a frustration among the community. Consequently, disparities in cultural representation exacerbates lack of awareness and social disintegration that ultimately depriving the community of their cultural uniqueness. This findings advanced the area of art and ethnic studies and offered crucial insights for policymakers on addressing discrimination against the Santali arts in Bangladesh, particularly among the ethnic minority populations.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Arts, Culture, Santal Community, Bangladesh
