Politics of Authenticity: Maizbhandar as a Sufi Community
In 17th October, 2016 the Anthropology Forum of BRAC University had organized a seminar on the Maizbhandari Sufi community of Chittagong. A former student of Anthropology, Arefin Noman, who is currently working as Teaching Assistant in the ESS department, presented his undergrad thesis titled “An Ethnography on the Maizbhandar: Locating within Cultural, Religious and Political Dimensions”.
Having a particular global and regional scenario following the 9/11 incident, this paper is principally interested in studying the politics of authenticity as a tool of survival in a drastically changed global conditions used by an Islamic Sufi group called the Maizbhandari. In his presentation, he strived to showcase the urgency and dynamics of survival as felt and enacted by the institution of Maizbhandar. He argued that Maizbhandaris' concern with survival is reflected on a continuous effort to establish the entity as an indigenous version of Sufi Islam while claiming authenticity by drawing a direct connection to the Prophet Muhammad's family.
It is the third thesis presentation event organized by the Forum and a part of regular seminar and lecture series. The faculty members of both Anthropology and Economics program and students from various departments attended the seminar.