インド・アッサム州，ブラマプトラ川氾濫原におけるムスリム移民の生業活動と土地利用 : ヒンドゥー教徒住民との比較を通して

Livelihood and Land-Use Pattern of Immigrant Muslim Communities in the Brahmaputra Floodplain in Assam: A Comparative Study of Immigrant and Indigenous Communities

浅田 晴久

広島大学現代インド研究 : 空間と社会

Journal of contemporary India studies : space and society, Hiroshima University

インド北東地方に位置するアッサム州は，ムスリム人口の比率が高い州の1 つである。アッサム州内のムスリムの大多数はイギリス植民地時代の東ベンガルや独立後の東パキスタン，バングラデシュから移住してきた人々であるが，その人口は2011年センサスで州全体の34％に達している。ムスリム移民の増加は在来民との間にしばしば衝突を起こしてきたが，これまでは現地調査に基づくムスリム移民の実態に関する研究はほとんどみられなかった。本研究ではブラマプトラ川氾濫原に居住するムスリム移民と在来民との間で生業活動や土地利用にどのような差異がみられるのかを明らかにし，アッサム州社会におけるムスリム移民の位置づけを議論した。その結果，ブラマプトラ川の氾濫原地帯に居住しているムスリム移民は在来民とはまったく異なる技術を用いることで集約的な土地利用を実現していることが明らかになった。彼らの生業活動は在来民にとって脅威と捉えられてきたが，居住環境や生業形態が異なることから，経済的にはむしろ2つのコミュニティは共存できる関係にあることも示唆された。

Assam is one among the states with the highest Muslim population in India. According to the Population Census 2011, Muslims recorded 34% of the total population in the state, with a 3% increase in the last decade. The increasing Muslim population in the last several decades is mainly due to the immigration from East Pakistan and Bangladesh, which induced several conflicts regarding land resources with the local indigenous Hindu communities. Although the conflicts between the immigrant Muslims and indigenous Hindus are often reported in the media and argued in sociological studies, fieldwork-based studies on the livelihood of the immigrant communities in the locality are scarce. This study tries to reveal the differences in the agricultural practices and land-use patterns of immigrant and indigenous communities in the Brahmaputra floodplain and examines the sustainability of the multi-ethnic society of Assam. In Nagaon district of central Assam, it was found that the residential areas of immigrant and indigenous communities were clearly demarcated based on the ecological environment. Immigrant communities built their villages by the riverbank plain of the Brahmaputra, a region where river water inundates seasonally, while the indigenous community lives mostly by the central plain near towns. To adapt to excessive water and flooding, the immigrant people have developed intensive fish farming in the rainy season and Boro rice cultivation in the dry season by modifying the original flat topography and introducing artificial groundwater irrigation. Their adaptation techniques to the existing environment are entirely different from those of indigenous villages, and they are able to generate higher productivity per unit of land. These techniques resulted in considerable differences in the livelihood and income of both communities. However, economic linkages have also been found from the field observations suggesting weak ties between the communities.

アッサム州

氾濫原

ムスリム

技術

土地利用

Assam

floodplain

Muslim

technology

land use

農業 [ 610 ]

日本語

広島大学現代インド研究センター

Copyright (c) 2017 広島大学現代インド研究センター

[ISSN] 2185-8721

[NCID] AA12523588