Identity Crisis and the Pseudo-Minorities in Bangladesh: Is the Right to Cultural Identity the Answer?

Abstract

This article studies the process of minoritising members of majority groups through the use of narrow identity markers in heterogeneous countries like Bangladesh. Through historical analysis of the State’s influence on people's sense of cultural identity, it argues that when a group does not identify with State-imposed identity markers, they are alienated by the State and reduced to pseudo-minorities. Pseudo-minorities are groups of individuals who do not satisfy objective elements of minority identity, yet are discriminated against by the State in a minority-like manner. These individuals identify themselves as a group, and while they have formal equality, they lack de facto equality. These pseudo-minorities have no precise legal mechanism to redress such discrimination either under domestic or international law. The emerging right to cultural identity can become a tool to protect these groups.