Abstract:
To Michel Foucault, truth does not have an absolute existence; rather truth is a
construction which assumes its shape by the power practice through different discourses.
Contemporary representation of the minority community in Bangladeshi films and novels seems to
indicate an attempt to construct an unintended 'truth' which seems to inspire the process of
othering the minority. Some films and novels created both after and before 1971, tend to present the misery of the
minority community of this zone with sympathetic affection. The process seems to resist the
othering or at least tries to create a sensibility against this othering among the audience or readers.
While doing so, the process itself paradoxically contains the possibility of encouraging that very
othering. This dissertation tries to investigate whether the presentation of the minority community
of Bangladesh and East Pakistan in written and visual discourses resist the othering of the minority
or becomes part of the 'regime' of representation that treats the minority community as other.
When a film or a novel tries to sympathize with the minority community, it has to re-create the
othering the community faces in real life situation. Repetition of this re-creation in different
discourses produces the unintended construction of the 'truth' which establishes the real life
situation to be 'natural' to the audience. The effect a film or a novel creates gets included in the
entire integration of similar experiences of the audience. The othering of the minority community
can not avoid the possibility of assuming the shape of 'reality' through cross references to the
same 'fact'. It is to be investigated whether the cross references betray their intended purpose.
Description:
This thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA in English Language and Literature of East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh