Sheikh Serajul Hakim

Of the Rough Waters and Onto the City: Livelihood-biographies of the Rural Migrant from the Coasts of Bangladesh Sheikh Serajul Hakim

This book is about the ordinary rural migrant in a 'third world' city. Permanent migrant's livelihood is looked upon here considering a historical timeline, with an intension to identify possible elements of rural-urban continuum. But what makes this book interesting is that the migrant's livelihood-stories have been used here to compare between two separate timelines (rural and urban) and between two different places (coastal city and its rural hinterlands). In all these, the ordinary migrant (through his stories) plays the part of an essential vehicle. Rural coasts of Bangladesh offer an ideal backdrop for this work, since these areas are home to a host of natural and man-made challenges that instigate migration. Similarly, the host city (Khulna) is also a proven destination for this particular type of people. Seeing these migrants, this book therefore asks about the factors that made (and still make) their livelihoods vulnerable during both rural and urban times. The stories move back and forth between the rural coast and the contemporary city, while the very nature of rural-urban interaction that possibly forms these once-rural people?s livelihoods in the city is questioned.