“The Ghost of Comilla”: Authoritarian Biopolitics and Global Development in Rural East Pakistan
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: On January 1, 1962, the first group of women arrived at the Academy for Rural Development in Comilla, East Pakistan, to participate in the Women’s Education and Family Planning Program. Akhter Hameed Khan, the academy’s director, watched them pass by and quietly remarked to Florence McCarthy, a Peace Corps volunteer standing beside him, “I could tell people this was happening, but they would not believe me. So, we will wait, and in time, they will come to see for themselves.”1 Khan’s words reflected his belief that the academy was pioneering a socio-economic transformation in rural East Pakistan, particularly in reshaping gender norms. His comment also proved prophetic. The following year, Khan received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, often dubbed “Asia’s Nobel Prize,” for “efforts at rural reform among his people.” The academy at Comilla soon also became a significant stop on the global development circuit, drawing notable visitors such as John D. Rockefeller III and David Bell, executive vice president of the Ford Foundation. Bell enthusiastically noted upon his return, “Like everyone who goes to Comilla, I came away a believer.”2 As the “Comilla Model” gained currency in global developmental thought over the course of the 1960s, Akhter Hameed Khan was quick to distinguish his work from earlier iterations of US-funded community development.3 He consistently pointed out the academy’s goal of making Comilla’s rural population agents of their development, along with an emphasis on incorporating local knowledge and needs into program design.
Source: Diplomatic History
DOI: 10.1093/dh/dhae089
Author: Amna Qayyum
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4405686778