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Bangladesh's post-secondary education has become a hunting ground for local economic conglomerates and their transnational allies. Applying a holistic lens helps to understand the factors and short-term effects of blindly applying neo-liberal induced deregulation and privatization that constructed a mushrooming "McDonaldization" culture in the local post-secondary setting (Ball, 2003; Levin, 1998). The findings of a six-week-long study on Bangladeshi private universities, involving 32 interviews with students and faculty, civil society, and business community representatives and over 100 hours of ethnographic observation, contradict the ideal roles of universities in Bangladeshi society as they lead to demands that neither the universities nor the society can satisfy (Boulton and Lucas, 2011; Collini, 2012). These findings indicate this system constructs "zombie graduates" (Husain, forthcoming), who are entitlement happy yet lack critical understanding and suffer from acute "philosophical poverty" (Husain, forthcoming). In addition, this paper highlights the psyche of upper-middle-class local students and how they reinforce a "habitus" for effective domination (Bourdieu, 1989, 1997). Finally, this paper critically analyses the imbalanced application of economics and philosophy in higher education governance and argues that the outcomes can hurt post-colonial Bangladeshi culture and society in the long run (Harvey, 2005; Sen, 2006). Critically, these impacts contribute to two arguments: White Men's Germ on Brown Men's Body (Husain, forthcoming) and Betrayal by the Intellectuals (Chatterjee, 2004; Orwell, 1949).

This article problematises the marketisation of Islam in Bangladesh and the relationship between neo-liberal economic policies and the resurgence of a certain kind of Islamic religiosity in the country. Based on the findings of three field studies that employed a multi-method approach, the article analyses the macro-cultural impacts of development as well as highlights the embedded, nuanced, and complex set of economic and political relationships that appear to fuel social inequality and engender inequitable distribution and growth. Empirical findings identify the implementation of development policies based on client-patron relations as the main problematic precursor. The findings suggest such relations facilitate an ongoing marginalisation of minority groups, in which 'othering' among the equals emerge as a cemented outcome. The findings further suggest the outcomes move across social groups and are in transit and under negotiation, becoming braided with adverse impact on Bangla language, Bengali cultures, the country's advanced education sector, and the overall ability for Bangladeshis to think critically and produce and sustain social relations. Evidence also indicates Bengali cultures appear to become increasingly embedded in a number of rituals in the name of Islamic principles and philosophy. The article refers to this phenomenon as the 'great' transformation of contemporary Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Development in the twenty‐first century (“neo‐liberalism”) is a tool and its success and sustainability depend on how this tool is applied on a specific grounded reality. This article investigates how this modernization process continually co‐creates globalized Bangladesh through private sector development. While this field report highlights the challenges development aid donors can face in Bangladesh’s post‐colonial culture, it also unveils the dichotomous traction between globalization and inequality as well as the friction poverty reduction, through private sector development, can generate in impoverished countries. Finally, this report attempts to reconsider the ways in which the aid development ambitions of equality and liberty can find a workable balance with the neo‐liberal Imperative for private sector development. This article calls for improving quality control to generate greater impact of development aid resources in developing private sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]