ABSTRACT
An act of genocide is perhaps the most terrible crime that humankind can commit. Nevertheless, drawing a definite lesson out of a marked history of genocide is nothing short of a perplexing affair for one has to deal with endless definitional contestations and subjective relativities to undertake such a study. As a clear tension with regard to the conceptual purity and totality of genocide do remain, only contextual analyses, wherein one can move backward and forward between the various opposing positions, may prove to be helpful to surmise a reasonable lesson out of it. This chapter will put forward the case of Bangladesh – a significant South Asian nation that has witnessed one of the worst kinds of genocides in the late twentieth century – to highlight some of the immanent challenges that prevent one to draw an encompassing lesson from a history of genocide. Considering a “reasonable” lesson as more inclusive and effectual, the Bangladeshi experience is expected to highlight some of the nuanced aspects of the blasé historiography of genocide that unfolds in this part of the world.
