This research is led by Professor Nasir Uddin, an anthropologist at the University of Chittagong, and began in 2018; he and his team seek to answer the question ‘Who are the Rohingya?’ The Rohingya, an ethno-linguistic and religious minority, have been living in Arakan (now Rakhine) state in Myanmar for centuries. They received worldwide attention in August 2017 as suspected victims of genocide by the Myanmar military. Myanmar military’s ethnic cleansing forced more than 723,000 Rohingyas to cross the border into Bangladesh, which now hosts an estimated 1million Rohingyas, leaving around 500,000 still in Myanmar.
The Rohingya became stateless when the Citizenship Law (1982) in Myanmar revoked their right to citizenship. Consequently, they are thought of as ‘illegal Bengali migrants’ in Myanmar and as ‘illegal Burmese migrants’ in Bangladesh. ‘I was drawn to this region and topic by the realisation that people can exist and simultaneously not exist. That their identity is something they have no rights over, and that this spills over into the way their bodies experience and live in the world’ says Professor Uddin, who has been conducting research on the Rohingya refugees living in Teknaf and Ukhia of Cox’s Bazar for some decades.
Based on archival and ethnographic research, the project situates the un/making of the Rohingya in the shifting historical, political, ethnic, and regional landscape of Myanmar politics. It pays particular attention to the ways in which politicians in both Myanmar and across the border in Bangladesh have characterised the Rohingya and the implications of this on their survival. But it also goes beyond state-level discourses and cultures of representation to examine the position of the Rohingya as citizens and displaced people through the lens of international frameworks on human rights and refugees.
Nasir and his team are consulting and analysing the archival records of the British Colonial era in the United Kingdom relating to the early history of Burma, Arakan, and the Rohingyas; as well as training and guiding fieldworkers to conduct research amongst Rohingyas in Ukhia and Teknaf, two border sub-districts of Bangladesh. The fieldwork team comprises a former Myanmar-based Rohingya social activist who campaigned for better living conditions for those living in Rakhine state, and who was forced to flee to Bangladesh where he works towards the repatriation of Rohingyas; and researchers, equally split between men and women, in order to better access gendered experiences of displacement amongst the refugees; as well as a documentary crew focusing on producing a short film about the project to be disseminated at film festivals in the future.
Professor Uddin, explains: ‘The aim is not to fix the Rohingya in people’s understanding via their cultural attributes and practices, but to explore the dynamics of what I call ‘making the Rohingya’ – and of course, more recently, unmaking them.’ He has given seminars on this topic across the world, including in the UK, the USA, and Australia (details here), and has published research-based opinion pieces as follows:
Uddin, N. (2018) ‘Ongoing Rohingya repatriation efforts are doomed to failure’, Al Jazeera, 22nd November 2018.
Uddin, N. (2018) ‘Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: five challenges for the future’, LSE Blogs, 21st November 2018.
Uddin, N. (2017) ‘The solutions to the Rohingya crisis: voices from the field’, South Asia Journal: Commentary, 17th November 2017.
"Utafiti huo unaongozwa na Profesa Nasir Uddin, mtaalamu wa anthropolojia katika Chuo Kikuu cha Chittagong, na ulianza mwaka 2018; yeye na timu yake wanatafuta kujibu swali ""Ni nani Rohingya?"" ""Rohingya, wachache wa kikabila, lugha na dini, wamekuwa wakiishi katika jimbo la Arakan (sasa Rakhine) nchini Myanmar kwa karne nyingi." Watu hao walipata umaarufu duniani kote mwezi Agosti 2017 kama watuhumiwa wa mauaji ya kimbari yaliyofanywa na jeshi la Myanmar. Utafiti wa kijeshi wa Myanmar umesababisha zaidi ya watu 723,000 wa kabila la Rohingya kuvuka mpaka wa Bangladesh, ambao sasa unawakaribisha watu milioni moja, na kuacha karibu 500,000 bado nchini Myanmar. Wa-Rohingya walipoteza uraia wao baada ya sheria ya uraia ya Myanmar ya mwaka 1982 kuondoa haki yao ya uraia. Kwa hiyo, wanafikiriwa kama "wahamiaji haramu wa Bengali" nchini Myanmar na kama "wahamiaji haramu wa Burma" nchini Bangladesh. "Nilivutiwa na eneo hili na mada hii kwa kutambua kwamba watu wanaweza kuwepo na wakati huo huo kutokuwapo. """Hiyo ni kitu ambacho hawana haki juu yake, na hii inaathiri jinsi miili yao inavyoona na kuishi katika ulimwengu,"" anasema Profesa Uddin, ambaye amekuwa akifanya utafiti juu ya wakimbizi wa Rohingya wanaoishi Teknaf na Ukhia ya Cox's Bazar kwa miongo kadhaa." Kwa kuzingatia utafiti wa kumbukumbu na ethnographic, mradi huo unaweka un-kufanya kwa Rohingya katika mabadiliko ya kihistoria, kisiasa, kikabila, na eneo la mazingira ya siasa za Myanmar. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""mashambulizi ya kisiasa nchini Myanmar na Bangladesh yanaathiri sana maisha ya watu wa Rohingya na kuathiri maisha yao.""" "Lakini pia inazidi mazungumzo ya ngazi ya serikali na tamaduni za uwakilishi kuchunguza nafasi ya Rohingya kama raia na watu waliohamishwa kupitia lensi ya mifumo ya kimataifa juu ya haki za binadamu na wakimbizi. """ Nasir na timu yake wanatafuta na kuchanganua rekodi za kumbukumbu za enzi ya ukoloni ya Uingereza zinazohusiana na historia ya mapema ya Burma, Arakan na Rohingya; na pia mafunzo na kuongoza wafanyakazi wa uwanja kufanya utafiti kati ya Rohingya huko Ukhia na Teknaf, wilaya mbili za mpaka za Bangladesh. Timu ya kazi ya shambani inajumuisha mwanaharakati wa zamani wa kijamii wa Rohingya anayeishi Myanmar ambaye alifanya kampeni ya hali bora ya maisha kwa wale wanaoishi katika jimbo la Rakhine, na ambaye alilazimika kukimbilia Bangladesh ambapo anafanya kazi kuelekea kurudishwa kwa Rohingya; na watafiti, waliogawanyika sawa kati ya wanaume na wanawake, ili kupata uzoefu bora wa uhamiaji kati ya wakimbizi; na timu ya maandishi inayozingatia kutengeneza filamu fupi kuhusu mradi huo. "Mwanamke huyo amesema: ""Lengo la utafiti huu si kuimarisha uelewa wa watu wa Rohingya kupitia sifa zao za kitamaduni na mazoea, bali ni kuchunguza mwenendo wa kile ninachokiita ""kufanya Rohingya"" na, kwa kweli, hivi karibuni, ""kuondoa"" wao.""" "Uddin, N. (2018) ""Rohingya wakimbizi katika Bangladesh: changamoto tano kwa ajili ya siku zijazo,"" LSE Blogs, 21 Novemba 2018." "Uddin, N. (2017) ""Suluhishi la mgogoro wa Rohingya: sauti kutoka shambani,"" South Asia Journal: Maelezo, 17 Novemba 2017."