Paper short abstract:

At the Bayazed Bostami shrine in Chittagong, we are studying how the interaction between a population of endangered turtles, shrine staff who look after the turtles, shop owners, and the pilgrims and tourists who feed the turtles creates an plural, open civic vision for the region.

Paper long abstract:

There are at least two Sufi shrines in Bangladesh that are known as refuges for endangered species. In this article we will focus on the Bayazid Bostami shrine in Nasirabad, north of Chittagong. This shrine, which has in recent years been enclosed by urban sprawl, has a large tank at the foot of the hill where the shrine is located. This tank is generally known by Bangladeshis to be the last refuge of the black soft-shelled turtle (Aspideretes nigricans). Visitors to the shrine buy packs of bread and other foods to feed to the turtles; shrine staff actively manage the population; and researchers from Chittagong University use it as a field site. The earliest zoological records from the 18th century suggest that A. nigricans was distributed across several tanks in the Chittagong area, but it is now only found in the Bayazid Bostami shrine tank. Recent studies have shown that there are, actually, remnant wild populations of the black soft-shelled turtle elsewhere in the Bengal delta. At the same time, development of the shrine has created challenges for the breeding cycle. In this study, we will focus on the work done by the shrine staff to support the turtles, and the symbolic work that the turtles have done as part of the shrine. We show that maintaining a successful economic and biological relationship around the shrine is understood to build a tolerant and plural civic vision for Chittagong--and that the turtles have, therefore, been attacked by fundamentalists.