ABSTRACT
This book addresses the long-term impacts of Cyclone Aila, which occurred in 2009, on two ethnically distinct Sundarbans Forest communities – Munda (Indigenous) and Shora (Muslim) – in the south-western coastal region of Bangladesh. The impacts of Cyclone Aila have been long-lasting and are still felt in this region 11 years after the event. This study focuses on how Aila has affected the traditional livelihoods, customary practices, and ecologies of these two coastal communities. In particular, it examines the effects of livelihood-related inequalities and discrimination against Aila survivors on the basis of their gender, age, class, household division of labour, religion, marital status and ethnicity. Thus, the central aim of this book is to explore the connections between traditional Sundarbans Forest-based livelihoods and gender relations within the context of ecological disaster and recovery in these two communities. Using an ethnographic mode of research, I examine livelihood impacts generated by both Aila itself and the subsequent intervention of four non-governmental organisations (NGOs): the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC); Shusilan, an NGO that has worked in the south-western regions of Bangladesh since 1992; the Local Environment Development and Agricultural Research Society (LEDARS), a local NGO based in Shyamnagar; and Sundarban Adibasi Munda Sangstha (SAMS), which works with the Munda community to support health, education and livelihoods. The study takes an intersectional theoretical approach in showing the influence of gender, marital status, religion and geographical locations on the consequences of Aila for the livelihoods of the Munda and Shora forest people.
