Routledge Climate Change and Gendered Livelihoods in Bangladesh

Globally climate-induced disasters have been impacting marginalised communities’ lives, livelihood and gendered relations. This book explores the effects of Cyclone Aila (as a result of climate change) in 2009 on the rural livelihoods and gendered relations of two ethnically distinct forest communities – Munda, an indigenous group, and Shora, a Muslim group – dwelling near the Sundarbans Forest in Bangladesh. Examining the cyclone’s medium- to long-term impacts on livelihoods and comparative aspects of gendered relations between these two contrasting communities, this book addresses a gap in current critical development studies. It adopts an ethnographic research design and analyses the alterations to livelihood activities and reconfiguration of gender relations within the Munda and Shora communities since 2009. The study primarily contends that post-Aila, livelihoods and gendered relations have been substantially transformed in both communities, making the case that the improvement of local infrastructure, as an important part of the geographical location, has noticeably progressed the living conditions and livelihoods of some members of the Munda and Shora communities. Connecting climate-induced changes with the construction and alteration of gendered livelihood patterns, the book will be of interest to a wide range of academics in the fields of Asian Studies, Sociology of Environment, Social Anthropology, Human Geography, Gender and Cultural Studies, Human Geography, Disaster Management and Forestry and Environmental Science. Review This is an excellent book providing a much-needed scholarly contribution to the debate over indigenous communities and climate induced disasters. The book presents a rich empirical evidence on Munda and Shora indigenous communities from Bangladesh to demonstrate how and why the livelihoods of these rural communities are changing in the face of disasters, how disaster impacts are gendered, especially in the context of indigenous communities, and why it matters to recognise the persistence and change in the views of indigenous women affected by and responding to disasters. The author has done an excellent job to bring out the ethnographic details to explain the construction and alternation of gendered livelihood patterns in disaster affected communities. This is a fresh and important addition to the scholarship of disaster and development studies. - Krishna K. Shrestha, UNSW Sydney, Australia Biophysical hazards always demand a response, be it through disaster-prevention planning or post-hazard recovery measures. Gender roles and relations matter enormously to how just and effective the responses are. In this fine comparative study, Sajal Roy shows why gender-sensitive policy is an essential  - never optional - part of disaster mitigation and post-disaster rebuilding. - Noel Castree, UTS, Australia, and University of Manchester, UK About the Author Sajal Roy is based at Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative, Western Sydney University (WSU), Australia, where he teaches at the Schools of Social Sciences and Business.