ETHNO-BOTANICAL PERCEPTION OF THE HAJONG TRIBE OF NALITABARI UPAZILLA,
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
From time immemorial the human beings started their days from the forests (Prasad, 1985). As their population started increasing, the primitive dwellers began to clear forests for their inhabitation and agricultures (Tiwari, 1986). Most of them still have their connections in the forest whether they dwell in the forests or remain near the forest areas. The socio-economic and cultural life of the tribals and forest dwellers is closely associated with forest to a great extent (Tiwari, 1986). There is no doubt that forest has been playing a vital role in the economy of the tribals. The neutrality of the forest has shaped the life style of the tribals. Every day million of the poor, the tribals and forest dwellers are earning their livelihood from the forest (Ragunath, 1986).
The Hajong are the ancient among the ethnic minorities of the North-East region of Bangladesh who represent different types of socio-political organization compared to the other ethnic group. The Hajong, as an organized kin group live in hamlets, a small settlement comprising five to twenty household which is considered to be the primary socio-economic unit of Hajong life and the name of which is known by its founding sibs (Nasrin and Khalifa, 2004).
Traditionally, indigenous/ethnic communities worldwide are knowledgeable about local plants and other natural resources on which they are so immediately and intimately dependent (Khisa, 1998) which reflects their sense of ethno-botanical concern. They also have developed indigenous knowledge (IK) system of their own land use systems (Mohiuddin et al., 2002). Over the past two decades, the importance of farmers’ indigenous knowledge in managing their natural resources has gained increasing recognition from the scientific community (Majumdar, 1961). Ethno-botany and IK also have important role to play in the forest resource and watershed management as well as the conservation of biodiversity and traditional cultural diversity. But much of wealth of ethno-botany and IK is today becoming lost as traditional cultures become eroded. Ethno-botanist can play very useful roles in rescuing the disappearing IK and returning it to the ethnic communities. In this way, ethno-botany and IK can be conserved as part of living cultural-ecological system (Khisa, 1998). The lifestyle and ethno-botanical perception along with the IK governing the daily activities of the ethnic communities need to be explored highly, in order to conserve them as well as to assess the possibilities to conserve the forest resources by utilizing such traditional indigenous concepts.
So far it was found through literature review, the information about various works carried out on different tribes of Bangladesh come into existence. Siddiqi (1998), Khisa (1998), Sattar (1998), Banik (1998), Alam and Khisa (2000), Alam (2002), Mohiuddin et al. (2002) carried out several studies on various tribes regarding the exploration of ethno-botany and indigenous knowledge. But the Hajong were totally ignored earlier despite they were the original forest dwellers in North-East region of Bangladesh. The Hajong have special and particular relationship and dependency on forest. The present study, therefore, was carried out to explore them regarding various parameters.
1.2. OBJECTIVES
The present study was carried out to achieve the following objectives:
- To assess the socio-economic status of the Hajong tribes of Bangladesh.
- To know the ethno-botanical perception of the Hajong tribes.
- To assess the extent to which the farmers indigenous knowledge influence their whole life processes and
- To highlight the gender role regulating on the daily life activities of the Hajong tribe.
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| Absract |
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| Introduction |
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| Methodology |
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| Literature Review |
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| Study Area |
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| Result And Discussion |
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| Recomendation And Conclusion |
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| References |
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| Author |
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