The Jerzy Zubrzycki Postgraduate Scholarship Award
In 2011 TASA issued the first Jerzy Zubrzycki Conference Scholarship Award to Mohammed
Salehin (University of Sydney). The prize, which was established through the generous support of ANU, is to recognize the outstanding contribution to Australian sociology by
Professor Zubrzycki. As part of the award, the recipient has been invited to contribute a short piece on his thesis in Nexus. Closing dates for the 2012 award are located on the TASA website.
I was truly honoured to have been awarded the inaugural Jerzy Zubrzycki Conference
Scholarship 2011 as recognition of my work on religion, gender relations and Islamic NGOs in Bangladesh, which is part of my PhD research project entitled ‘Development, State and
Religious NGOs in Bangladesh’. I am very thankful to TASA and the scholarship selection panel for supporting my application. Moreover, I was very excited to present my paper in the newly formed thematic group on Sociology of Religion, which I think is recognition of the increasing importance of religion in academic research.
My PhD research project will investigate the relationship between religion and development, in particular the programs and practices of faith-based organizations, i.e., Islamic NGOs
(Non-Governmental Organizations) in Bangladesh. The connection between faith and development has become, as Marshall and Keough (2004:1) argue, ‘fragile and intermittent at best, critical and confrontational at worst’. Moreover, Development Studies has traditionally neglected the role of religion and faith and its role in the lives of the poor throughout the world (Clarke 2008:17). However, it is not only development studies but also other social science disciplines that have been influenced by ‘secularization’ theory and its emphasis on the belief that ‘religious institutions, actions and consciousness lose their social significance’ over time as societies modernize (Wilson 1992:49). It is crucial to look at the politics of national progress, including the politics of secularism as advocated by modernity and ‘the
West’.
Therefore, transnational Western donors were also caught in this thinking and traditionally have been ambivalent about the relationship between faith, development and the activities of faith-based organizations (Clarke and Jennings 2008:1).
Development discourse in Bangladesh, like many developing countries, is dominated by
NGOs that have emerged in both a development and aid capacity. This aid is wide-reaching, with the NGO sector in Bangladesh now providing a large portion of public services (e.g. health care, education, and credit) in both urban and rural areas. This shift has been understood as the establishment by NGOs as a type of parallel state, with few mechanisms for accountability, and threat to the state’s legitimacy (e.g. White 1999). Hence it has been described as a shift in sovereignty, from state to non-state actors (e.g. NGOs) (Karim 2008:8).
In the context of the failure of secular development agencies to reduce poverty and inequality in the developing world, a shift in development agendas has been taking place to include religion and faith-based organizations for better development outcomes (Hynes 2007:1). In the context of Bangladesh, religious inspired NGOs (RNGOs) have been very successful in

mobilization of humanitarian aids in a transparent and efficient manner. Moreover, Islamic microfinance (which is based on
Shari’ah and does not charge any interest on credit), in contrast to the microcredit program of the largest (secular) NGOs (which charge high interest rates), has become successful among the poor of Bangladesh. Therefore, it is very important to look at the practice of ‘governmentality’ that puts Islamic NGOs, rather than the state or secular NGOs, in a position to exert power over social life in rural Bangladesh through their management practices (or governance) of the rural poor, particularly women.
Therefore, this research will explore the relationship between development efforts of
Religious NGOs (RNGOs), particularly Islamic NGOs, and changing governance structures in rural Bangladesh. Moreover, this research will analyze people’s experience of Islamic
NGOs in rural areas to explore changes relating to the intervention of Islamic NGOs in the ideological structures of rural women. This study will also explore the relationship of Islamic
NGOs with other RNGOs. In particular, this study is concerned with the way in which transnational actors mobilize rural people and impact ideological and governance structures through their participation in and funding of RNGOs.
My research paper for TASA conference 2011 is taken from a chapter of my thesis focused on understanding the role of Islamic NGOs in transforming gender relations in rural areas of
Bangladesh. Based on fieldwork carried out over the period of July 2010–February 2011 in
Bangladesh, this paper argues that Islamic NGOs have changed ideological structures shaping the lives of rural women, through issues of empowerment and piety. Islamic NGOs have been successful in mobilising women to create a ‘sense of guilt’ regarding interest charges by the microcredit program of non-Islamic NGOs, and have advocated an Islamic version of
‘women’s empowerment’ by enhancing Muslim women’s agency. Hence, a ‘different model of gender relations’ in contrast to the liberal model is emerging that envisages Muslim women’s piety as central to constructing the ‘good woman’, which informs the way women appear and behave in public.
Mohammed Salehin – University of Sydney
* - References can be obtained upon request from author.