Problem of national identity of the middle class in Bangladesh and state-satellite television

Abstract

This thesis is about the construction and reconstruction of the national identities in Bangladesh, from the Pakistan era to the birth of Bangladesh, to present time. In the light of this political framework, I am looking at the ways in which the state, through the control of the medium of television sought to shift a more syncretic and secular nationalism to a more Islamicist one called Bangladeshi nationalism. I am also looking at Satellite television and the way in which this ruptures the national identities. The study employs the qualitative method to offer an elaborate description of the problem of this national identity by exploring the role of TV officials as cultural artists and the political brokers, as well as the state, in utilising the medium of television for inculcating the certain kinds of identities. The responses of the various professional groups as the middle class viewers of the state television and satellite television in this context has been examined, regarding the question of national identity. The qualitative method has been employed in this work to obtain an in-depth analysis of the problem of nationalism and its association with the history, culture and religion of the middle class in Bangladesh. Through such a procedure this work contributes in demonstrating the fragmentation, multiplicity and plurality of the national identities of the middle class of Dhaka City who find the narrative of the history of the Liberation War and cultural heritage in anomalous ways in various televised programmes under the different political constituencies of Bangladesh