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Udbhēda: Details of Bangladesh Life & Adda

by Kathryn Hummel (Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani, KK Birla Goa campus, India)

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Australian ethnographer Kathryn Hummel’s overall goal in “Udbhēda: Details of Bangladesh Life & Adda” (Vernon Press) is to negotiate the rocky path between post-colonial theory and her own fieldwork practice. She explains her title accordingly: ‘udbhēda’ translates roughly as confluence or breakthrough, while ‘adda’ means conversation or even gossip. She strives for meaningful exchanges with three diverse figures: Sampurna, who supports her family by her massage work; Afreen, a hijira known for their activism on behalf of sex workers; and Nusrat, an academic who teaches English literature.
Constantly aware of her difference from her three subjects, Hummel illuminates the challenges facing Bangladeshis who aspire to assert themselves within conservative social mores.
Hummel’s book is a work of ‘bricolage’ in the best spirit of anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. She is a participant observer within Bangladeshi life, one acutely aware of the pitfalls of self-reflexivity as she converses with Sampurna, Afreen and Nusrat. As someone who knew very little about Bangladeshi life stories, I am grateful to Hummel’s honesty and intellect. In “Udbhēda,” she encapsulates history, post-colonial theory and powerful human experience in one satisfying text.

Dr. Lynne Van Luven
Professor emerita,
Department of Writing,
University of Victoria

'Udbhēda: Details of Bangladesh Life & Adda' recounts the lived experiences of three diverse individuals—Sampurna, Afreen and Nusrat—as related in conversation with the author. Framed by the methodology and methods of narrative ethnography, 'Udbhēda' describes the details that comment on or even challenge broad definitions and portrayals of Bangladesh and its people, particularly women and hijra. Beneath these narratives runs the author’s subjective account as a researcher, writer, cisgender woman and foreign visitor to Bangladesh.
Evoking the everchanging scenes and moods of Dhaka, this multi-genre work combines prose, prose poetry and critical reflection to explore themes including gender, sexuality, class, family, education, work and postcolonial identity. This innovative approach to ethnographic writing embraces the cultural practice of adda—unbounded, often revelatory conversation—as both subject and method. 'Udbhēda' employs a considered, intersectional approach, relating perspectives frequently marginalised in discipline- and industry-specific discourse on Bangladesh, adding depth to the exploration of culture and identity beyond binaries.
Balancing vivid storytelling with contemplative academic analysis, this book offers valuable insights for anthropologists, gender studies scholars and development practitioners. Hummel’s self-reflexive stance and exploration of the ‘illegitimate’ side of ethnography, in the tradition of Ruth Behar’s 'Translated Woman', make 'Udbhēda' an exemplary text for teaching qualitative research methods. The accompanying exegesis provides a transparent account of the author’s research process, engaging with crucial concepts in postcolonial theory, feminist ethnography and ethnographic representation.
Accessible to both academic and general readers interested in innovative approaches to cross-cultural research and writing, 'Udbhēda: Details of Bangladesh Life & Adda' offers a layered interpretation of the testimonies of three remarkable people. It is a vital text for anyone seeking to look deeper at the complexities of gender, identity, culture and everyday life in contemporary Bangladesh.

Dr Kathryn Hummel (she/her) is a writer, editor, interdisciplinary researcher and multi-media artist. She holds undergraduate degrees in English and Gender Studies from the University of Adelaide and a PhD in Social Sciences from the University of South Australia. Researching at the intersection of cross-cultural ethnography, gender, sexuality, cultural studies, and the creative arts has led Kathryn to universities, literary festivals and art spaces throughout Australasia, Europe and South Asia. She first travelled to Bangladesh as a development volunteer in 2007 and subsequently resided there as a PhD researcher and artist-in-residence.
Uncollected, Kathryn’s digital media/poetry, non-fiction, scholarly research and short fiction has been published, performed, translated and anthologised around the world. Kathryn has authored six books of poems: 'Poems from Here' (Hobart: Walleah Press, 2014), 'The Bangalore Set' (Bangalore: Kena, 2016), 'splashback' (Sydney: Stale Objects dePress, 2017; Bristol: Prote(s)xt Books, 2019), 'The Body That Holds' (Adelaide: Little Windows Press, 2017), 'A Few Franks for Dearest Dominic' [Bristol: Prote(s)xt Books, 2019] and 'Lamentville' (Singapore: Math Paper Press, 2019). Recipient of the NEC/'Meanjin' Essay Writing Competition prize, the Melbourne Lord Mayor’s Dorothy Porter Award and Copyright Agency's Best Poetry Prize, Kathryn’s writing has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, among others.

Bangladesh, Dhaka, narrative ethnography, qualitative research, arts-based research, cultural studies, women's studies, gender studies, queer studies, social science, sociology, informal ethnographic interview, post-colonial studies, postcolonialism, South Asian studies, multi-genre interpretation, contemporary Bangladesh, adda (cultural practice), intersectionality, autoethnography, feminist methodology, cultural anthropology, subaltern studies, representation in ethnography, reflexive writing, decolonizing research, transgender studies (hijra community), oral history, ethical fieldwork, cross-cultural communication

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