ABSTRACT
Spatial marginality of a people affects ways in which their identities take shape. This chapter aims to understand how socio-cultural identities of a people, like caste, religion, ethnicity, are likewise affected and, often, decided by their spatial category of being a border people. It looks at two narratives where the ethno-religious and caste identities of migrants, settled along the West Bengal-Bangladesh border, have played vital roles in the nature of negotiation between them and the state. The chapter also looks at certain aspects of interaction between the border guards and border civilians, and between the border civilians themselves, where ethno-religious and caste identities have had a role to play, albeit latently. The history of the Namasudra movement in Bengal testifies to an interesting feature of this community – that of demonstrating features of caste and ethno-religious consciousness at the same time.
