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Paper short abstract

Based on an ethnography of Bangladeshi migration in Portugal, carried out since 2003, this paper will reveal the relation between the performance of a sacrificial ritual - the qurbani - and the (re)making of two places of belonging: the desh (the bengali word for Bangladesh) and Portugal.

Paper long abstract

Based on an ethnography of Bangladeshi migration in Portugal, carried out since 2003, the main objective of this paper is to reveal the relation between ritual and the (re)production of places of belonging in transnational migration contexts. It will be argued that for most of my research associates, the performance of the qurbani (the sacrificial ritual which takes place at the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca - the hajj), in Portugal and in Bangladesh, is a way of producing themselves as successful migrants, not only in relation to their country-fellowmen but also to their relatives and friends. Simultaneously, these ritual transits are part and parcel of the (re)production of two places of belonging: the desh (the bengali word for Bangladesh, home, village, etc), as a place of roots, kinship and piety, and Portugal, as a new home.