LEARNING FROM THE ROOT- INTEGRATING TRADITION INTO ARCHITECTURE TOWARDS A SELF-SUBSISTENT MUNDA COMMUNITY

Abstract

The forest-based Munda community is one of Bangladesh's many tribal communities, having their age-old religion, culture, customs, language, and knowledge, for which they are recognized as a unique group of people with different tribal traits. Originating in India, some of the Munda people travelled to Bangladesh around 300 years ago and have been living here ever since. Despite of their rich tradition and heritage, the Mundas are one of Bangladesh's most despised and disdained ethnic groups. Moreover, Mundas living in the Kalinchi village in the Sundarbans’s ecological zone, one of the country's most vulnerable locations, are facing major challenges from saline intrusion, tropical cyclones, storm surges, and what not. This research aims to explore Munda’s ancestral way of living, their traditional subsistence practices & their house pattern to infuse it to bring possible solutions towards a resilient Munda community. Initially, an anthropological study was conducted to uncover their indigenous foundations, traditional knowledge of living, and the events that shifted people away from their ancestral homeland. Later, architectural intervention was combined to achieve self-sustainability without losing the original traits. Additionally, this can help to preserve their ethnic identity and promote their indigenous heritage to the rest of the world. The final framework intends to increase the affordability of construction materials in an effective way to withstand climate challenges.