–

In Bangladesh the Bedes are an ethnic nomad community that has existed for more than 1000 years. In the 17th century, they followed their king Ballal Raja on the waterways from present-day Myanmar to Bengal. Over the course of time, they have become Muslims. They travelled to various regions of Bangladesh and Assam. The Bede themselves are convinced that their community has Arabic roots and that the name “Bede” was derived from the Arabic word “bedouin”.

–

–

They earn their living by selling cooking utensils, self-made seashell and pearl trinkets, fish, spices, and medicinal herbs. They perform animal shows in which they also produce magical tricks and act as fortune tellers and snake charmers. 8 to 10 months a year, the families predominantly live on boats or in tents and tour diverse regions of Bangladesh along the waterways.At the beginning of the dry season they return for a period of roughly two months to a permanent settlement.

–

–

During the last 5 or 6 years more and more families have permanently settled down in land.Their ways of earning a life has changed too today, some Bede exclusively live on boats anchored at the shore while more and more have settled down on land. Thus, by and by new building types have developed out of the boat roofs that were formerly only temporarily placed on land.As basic types; two particular forms can be identified. On the one hand, there are the original boats, and on the other cubic forms that hardly differ from the typical self-built (corrugated iron) huts in Dhaka’s settlements of the poor. In almost all versions, there is a platform superimposed on supports.The construction of these platforms has been adapted from boat construction.

–

Some special types are scattered amongst them which is partly due to the fact that some families own both a boat and a hut. In many cases bamboo and other cheap materials such as plastic sheeting and textile fabrics have been used as building materials. But today, this traditional rhythm is changing.  Bangladesh suffers increasingly from the consequences of changing weather patterns.

–

In the last years, unpredictably heavy rainfall has alternated with dry periods. And the waterway network, consisting of rivers, tributaries, and channels, that comprises 7 percent of Bangladesh’s area and has existed for centuries, is now changing too. Of the original 24,000 kilometres now only 16,000 kilometres in the wet season and no more than 6000 kilometres during the dry season are still navigable. The increasing pollution of the water –make travelling on the rivers increasingly dangerous and partly even impossible. While at the beginning of the 1990s all Bede – 1.5 million people – were living on the water, in 2002, only 800,000 of them still lived there, and their number had decreased by further 250,000 people by 2009.

–

9 major clans of Bedes

 1) Mal(Kabiraj)(healers) 2) Sapuria,(snake charmer) 3) Shandar(pearl collectors) 4) Toula or Bandarwala,(perform Monkey show) 5) Bazi-gar,(perform magic show) 6) Mirsikari(prevent the evil spirits) 7) Boiral(fishing community )8) Kurindar(pick up lost valuable goods ) 9) Gain(sell betel  leaves)

—

–

This is a hypothetical project and site is proposed in Louhojong, Munshigonj as they have been living and gathering here for decades.There is an existing Bede Village adjacent to the site where they gather for 2 months and celebrate their marriages, funerals and other festivals. Effort is given to draw the attention of Ministry of Cultural Affairs Govt Republic of Bangladesh to ensure preservation of the cultural heritage of such ethnic nomadic community. And thus, a dais is proposed where a dialogue can be held between nomadic and mainstream sedentary community and minimize the conflict of identity.

There is a constant conflict between Nomads and mainstream sedentary group.Where Nomads have freedom to move anywhere, creativity to adopt changing situatuion as well as multidimentionality, sedentary people are confined to locality like couch potato.Where nomads go with nature, sedentary people restrict the flow in nature. So there is a constant conflict in between these 2 groups. The main goal was to minimize the gap and bring them to a dais having lateral learning and dialogue.