Abstract: The study examines the conditions of the daily and social lives of the Mro (or Mru) ethnic community, small group of whom recently adopted Islam, used to reside in remote rural areas of Southeastern Bangladesh. This community is struggling to maintain and protect its traditions. Moro has centuries of unique and rich cultural heritage that they need to save. Many of their ethnic elders are trying to preserve their traditions, but they are slowly dying out after each generation. This study aims to find out what is happening to their culture and society, especially in rural areas. Exploratory, descriptive, and qualitative methods were used to pursue this ethnographic research. The work involves a few more researchers who had access to interviews with respondents to create a good picture of the ethnic communities’ lifestyle, livelihoods, and economic conditions, as well as their cultural perspectives and identity. In Bangladesh, the Mro is an ethnic community that belongs to Muslim tribal society and follows the distinct cultures and traditions of their ethnic groups. The present endeavor documents the socioeconomic obstacles they had to overcome, their suffering through deprivation and oppression, and their exploitation by the dominant Bangali community. It discusses how they were settled in other parts of cities with poor infrastructure, police harassment, and discrimination. However, their economic condition has been worse compared to others who, due to a lack of education, cannot contribute to their local population. It is worth mentioning that there are almost 636 ethnic groups in Bangladesh. But because more people went to school after independence, most of them can’t speak their language well anymore.

Keywords: Mro, Ethnic Group; Tribe; Culture; Tradition; Cultural Erosion; Hill Tracts.

Works Cited:

M Mostafizur Rahman "LIFE AND SOCIETY OF THE MRO ETHNIC GROUP OF BANGLADESH: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS", IARJSET International Advanced Research Journal in Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 294-309, 2023. Crossref https://doi.org/10.17148/IARJSET.2023.10644

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2023.10644