For this class, I think that I’d like to do my work on Bangladesh, specifically the corruption that is associated with the country’s government. My best-friend is Bengali and he tells me stories of how corrupt the government is, based on his own personal experiences when he was growing up. Rifat emigrated to the US in 2005 along with his family, but spent most of his adolescent life in Dhaka, the largest city and capital of Bangladesh. Along with Rifat and his family members (who speak primarily Bengali with very limited English) I’d like to speak with Bengali families in NYC who lived in and out of capital as well as individuals who are from Bengali families but were born after their families emigrated. I think it would be interesting to find out what all these people think of Bangladesh’s government and the current state of affairs in the country. Rifat also mentioned to me that the only reason his family moved to the US was because they won a lottery allowing them to move during a time when travel to the US wasn’t allowed, so I’m also interested in the stories of just how and why Bangladesh families came to the US. The NY Times Ethnicity by Region Map looks to be a good resource, because it shows that there is a rise in the number of Bengali families in Jackson Heights and Woodside and a very rapid growth of these families in Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Sunset Park, and Bensonhurst. I think these neighborhoods would be good places to go meet and speak directly to Bengali families.
A Blogs@Baruch site
