Denial as Governance: Governmentality and Hindu Minority Insecurity in Bangladesh

• In Event: Conflict and Belonging Across Borders

Abstract

Communal violence against Hindus in Bangladesh is widely witnessed and circulated, yet it is frequently reframed as ordinary politics, rumor, or a “sensitive issue” rather than minority targeting. How does harm become socially knowable while remaining institutionally deniable? I theorize this process as denial-as-governance: a form of governmentality that operates not only through the state but through multiple, linked sites of regulation, bureaucratic classification, institutional procedure, professional authority, community norms, digital publics, and victims’ own self-management. Denial, I argue, governs by (1) recoding events into administratively “safe” categories, (2) managing credibility and shifting the burden of proof onto victims, and (3) producing discipline and self-discipline that narrow what can be said and done.
The paper draws on 15 in-depth interviews conducted June-August 2024 with Bangladeshi Hindu students and early-career professionals now living across multiple U.S. states. Interviews were conducted primarily in Bengali via Zoom, phone, or in person, audio-recorded, and transcribed. Analysis followed iterative coding and case-based mechanism building.
Across three case narratives, I identify mechanisms through which denial becomes a practical technology of rule. Police and local authorities document damage while naming attacks as political tension or sensitivity, foreclosing communal accountability. Universities and other meritocratic institutions route complaints into procedural channels that withdraw credibility and make discrimination costly to pursue. Digital rumor and screenshot circulation accelerates crowd violence, while online backlash and threats extend regulation transnationally, disciplining diaspora speech through risks to relatives.
By foregrounding governance and governmentality, the paper shows how minoritization is sustained not only through episodic violence but through everyday practices that render minority insecurity ordinary and politically manageable.

Author

• Pranta Sikder, University of Texas-El Paso