Food Sector

Graffiti as a Form of Resistance: An Anthropological Engagement
to This New Trend in Bangladesh
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Table of Contents
Acknowledgment
Abstract
Chapter One: Introduction
1.1 Statement of the Problem

1.2 Objectives
1.3 Theoretical Framework
1.4 Rationale of the study
1.5 Literature Review
1.6 Limitations
Chapter Two: Methods and Study Area
2.1 Observation
2.2 Interview
2.3 Critical Discourse Analysis
Chapter Three: Graffiti as an Anthropological Site
3.1 Graffiti in Local context
3.2 Street Art and Graffiti
3.3 Graffiti in the Urban Space
3.4 Graffiti and Urban Crime
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Chapter Four: Graffiti: Communication and Representation
4.1 Graffiti as a Medium of Communication
4.2 Graffiti: Politics of Representation
4.3 Graffiti and Intellectuals
4.4 Graffiti in Bangladesh and Cultural Understanding of Youth
Chapter Five: Graffiti as a form of Resistance
5.1 Student Movement and Graffiti
5.2 National Politics and Resistance through Graffiti
5.3 Graffiti and Campus
Chapter Six: Conclusion
6.1 Conclusion
7. Annexure:
 Reference
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Abstract

This aim of this research is to find out the reasons behind the three Graffiti সুবোধ তু ই পালিয়ে যা
(Subodh tui paliye ja), বাংলাদেশ রিমান্ডে (Bangladesh in Remand), পৌষাণল (Poushanol) being
controversial, What were the socio-political context and how this situation triggered people. In
this study my objectives were to know about the content and context of these three Graffiti and
what are the public perception about these and also the socio-political scenario. For this, it has
been chosen some methods observation, interview. The data would analyze by the critical
discourse analysis where the textual behavior become the humanistic behavior. The textual or
verbal contents carry a meaning which is encoding a meaning and decoding by the audiences,
sometimes it can be influenced by the artworks which they are wanted to show or wanted to
circulate the message. In anthropology, there have some connection between the visual system
and the power structure, though it is not like everyday power practice but it indicates the hidden
power practice through visual communication. Because visual systems have its own meaning to
catch the audiences. Here Graffiti is represented as a form of resistance while surveillance
capitalism or the broader structure’s power is a real concern as government agencies around the
globe are beefing up their surveillance systems with increased efficiency, dissenting voices are
pushed to the corner, Graffiti then comes in rescue and presents opportunity to express options
on public places which we call as a form of resistance. This paper would discover the socio-
political content and context behind making Graffiti in order to represent political instability and
as a form of resistance.
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Acknowledgment
May all the glory be to the mighty Allah. First and for the most I would like to express
my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Md. Mokhlesur Rahman for his
constructive and fruitful comments and advices for the realization of this paper. Without his
cooperation, this work would not have been as it is now. As my topic is related to visual
anthropology and the faculty who offered this course Assistant Professor Javed Kaiser Ibne
Rahman I would like to give special thanks to him for his endless support, kind and
understanding spirit during the preparation of this paper. I would like to thank Professor Nur
Muhammad Majumdar sir, Chair of the department of Anthropology, SUST. Special gratitude is
extended to all honourable teachers of the department. Then I would like to thank my all
respected seniors. I would like to give special thanks to my senior Sudipta Das Gupta and Faria
Binte Arif. Their guidance, support and suggestions inspired me to complete the monograph
paper. Next my thanking goes to my beloved friends Tansum Tanha, Mohammad Akib Hasan,
Mahmud Bashir Ahmed, Taspia Mohammad Marina and Nishat Gias Jui for their tremendous
support. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family specially my beloved elder sister
Saima Ahsan to keep supporting, loving and appreciating me always. And I will be always
grateful to My Mother for whom I have come this far.
Date-02.02.2020 Zakia Ahsan
Dept. of Anthropology, SUST
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Chapter One
1.1 Introduction

1.3 Objectives
1.4 Theoretical Framework
1.5 Rationale of the study
1.6 Literature Review
1.7 Limitations
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1.1 Introduction
All the nations around the world have diverse pattern of Graffiti, which are entitled with some
socio-cultural traditions as well as philosophical stand points. As has been seen since the early
times, a graffito stands for the spontaneous expression of public feelings. The history of Graffiti
is as old as first human cave painters of Northern parts of Indonesia and Western Europe, over
40,000 years ago. During classical Greek, roman era, protesters would write politically messages
and revolutionary poetry on public walls. However, the modern form of Graffiti emerged in the
early 1960s in Philadelphia.
Students and youth of Bangladesh have been paying an important role in knitting the
fabric of Bangladesh since the anti-British movement to the War of Liberation in Bangladesh. At
that time Graffiti has been used as an important tool to deliver messages and demands. After that,
Subodh is consider to be one of the major series of artworks in recent history of Bangladesh. The
series portrayed one essence of goodness in a young man named Subodh who is concerned and
frustrated by the state repression of the ruling quarters and extreme alienation in society. The
artist of this Graffiti instructs him to run away with several messages on several wall i.e.
‘Subodh tui paliye ja Shomoy ekhon tor pokkhe na, Subodh kobe hobe bhor, Subodh tui paliye ja
tor vagge kichu nei.’
Following this, another Graffiti popped up after some student protest which was about two
students killed by a running bus in 2018. The Graffiti was known as Bangladesh in Remand
(বাংলাদেশ রিমান্ডে). Unwelcoming attitudes towards Graffiti in public spheres also reflected in
public university campus, which often considered as autonomous territory. Again this study also
tried to see the environment when the university students start any movement or protest. In a
recent incident in 2017 at Shahjalal University of Science & Technology campus a Graffiti
named Poushanol had been removed by the university authority as it was not permitted to be
drawn. Poushanol (fire of winter) was a thematic name of a cultural program by students
showing their protest against university administration on some issues.
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Graffiti or street arts are mainly drawn to show their resistance across the world, where
Bangladesh is observing this kind of Graffiti for the first time mainly by the students. Though
Poushanol is university campus based Graffiti but it has the same context with a broader aspect.
In recent years Bangladesh has been observing this kind of Graffiti. It came up in the light after
Subodh series popped up on the wall of Dhaka city. And then lots of Graffiti had been drawn
anonymously and exposed recently right after Subodh series. i.e. দুধ চা খেয়ে তোকে গুলি করে দিব,
Banana is a nonpolitical fruit, বাংলাদেশ রিমান্ডে, সহমত ভাই, uff. These graffiti have drew attention to
many people and subsequently removed by the authorities of the state.
In my study I tried to investigate, why these graffiti emerged and why they were
removed. As I have seen Graffiti in global context, which then represented as a form of
resistance and expression of a different philosophical standpoints. Therefore, my research will
help the academia to know more about this practice in Bangladesh from different perspective
with an anthropological lens. Furthermore, I tried to bring the narratives from different people to
illustrate the socio-political approach regarding the Graffiti.

Graffiti now a days is gaining such attentions in worldwide as a symbolic form of rebellious art.
But from the very beginning this kind of artwork was just writings or drawings in the cave back
in ancient time. But then later people used to write their name, or tags with protest poems and
arts to express their emotions. It then spread out and became a trend. A good number of
researches have been conducted on the basis of this trend of Graffiti where few have them have
already included in my literature review. In some literature there has been seen different types of
dimensions that Graffiti is a result of some resistance, or why some graffiti is related to criminal
activity or graffiti can be aesthetic sometime. But in Bangladesh excluding some news there is no
research covering this contemporary Graffiti or any kind of street work. So this area is still under
researched. For this reason I think, as there is no research available so far where we can find
Graffiti not only as art, rather the socio-culture related to Graffiti making, the political
understanding with Graffiti and mostly Graffiti can be seen as a medium of resistance which is
not seen in any literature in Bangladesh still. Through this research, I think from all the literature
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I have reviewed, all the news and blog I have read, that to understand Graffiti, it is not just a
representation of art or wall paint rather it is more than wall paint and art where the internal
narratives are underlying within this art work which is we know as Graffiti. The art works have
different types of socio-cultural and political analysis which is why in my research I tried to
know that how these are contexted and contested within this Graffiti which I wanted to
understand elaborately. Also in order to understand this, as I think that not only the critic’s
comments but also the painters who does these kind of art work, the creator of these art works,
their comment, and their socio-cultural understanding are also connected to my research to know
the inner scenario of graffiti and any kind of wall paint or street art. In this research, I tried to
know the inner mechanism and context of the graffiti. Those mechanisms and contexts
underlying within Graffiti were my motivation to do this research.
1.3 Objectives
The main objective of this study is to understand why few graffiti (i.e. Subodh tui paliye ja,
Bangladesh in Remand, Poushanol) in Bangladesh were become controversial in public sphere.
More precisely my research objectives are-
1. To understand the context and content of these three graffiti in regard of socio-political
situation in Bangladesh.
2. To explore whether graffiti exposed as a medium of resistance to the broader structure by
some people in the state or not.
3. To analyze the perception and interpretation of mass people about these three graffiti who
have encountered it in different ways.
1.4 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

Resistance refers to oppose power hierarchies that reinforce systemic inequality related to class,
gender, race and sexuality through the imposition of curricula, rules and culture (Scott,1985).
James C. Scott mainly introduces the idea of oppression and resistance are in constant flux in his
book Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (1985). Here Scott
talked about Foucault’s idea of power. For Foucault where there is power, there is resistance and
this power exists in everywhere in different forms and comes from everywhere (Foucault,
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1998:63). So the subordinate groups who are powerless they can’t actually stand against that
broader power. For that reason they do something which is kind of act against of those. For Scott
these kind of acts are resistance to some extent and they have different kind of forms to show
resistance. One of them is Art work. Here Graffiti is that kind of art work that is practiced
according to my different literatures where graffiti used as a form of opposing the state or any
kind of decisions. In this research paper, my study tried to show that how resistance works and
represented in another form or art work in the context of Bangladesh.
Stuart Hall describes the theory of Representation, which connects the meaning and
language to culture. Representation means using language to say something meaningful about or
to represent the world meaningfully to other people. It is an essential part of the process, by
which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture (Hall ed. 1997).
There are two process of ‘System of Representation’ firstly there is the system by which all sorts
of object, people and events are correlated with a set of concepts which we carry in our head.
Without them we could not interpret the world meaningfully at all. Then meaning depends on the
system of concepts and images formed in our thoughts which van stand for or represent the
world; enabling us to refer to things both inside and outside our heads. Secondly we see how we
might concepts for things we can perceive (Hall ibid. used)
Foucaultian approach to understand the politics of representation in relation to the

production of knowledge and subjectification of certain subjects. In my research this theoretical
position helped to understand by illustrating the knowledge making process and the politics of
representation of Graffiti as a whole.
Art is one kind of representation where any kind of art represents any kind of aspects. So
art has to be understood in the context in which it was created. No matter how subtle, art contains
elements of political, cultural, sociological and this in turn becomes a factor in interpretation. For
Hall representation is related with power. So if a powerful group want to do some artwork or
permit to make one there can be seen a kind of political positive genre by which their work being
represented, again behind graffiti there is also seen certain kind of politics and also certain
messages or indicators. These certain kind of genre is actually because of resistance. These no
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holds barred expressions later on uphold by Graffiti which reflect the against and rebelliousness
of the socially marginalized.
Veena Das on the other hand talked about state and marginality on her book
Anthropology in the Margins of the State (2004). She discussed how state is creating marginal
people through its different kind of governance mechanism. For Veena Das this kind of process
of governance, state sometimes allow or does not allow conduct where this deniable things are
the part of governmentality. Governmentality is the process by which the state gradually become
governmentalized. In this regard I will try to see that how state is operating governmentality and
the processes behind this in order to understand why three graffiti has been removed by the
authority and state. This kind of resistance against authority as well as state and the removing of
graffiti which is governance policy by state are my focus in order to find out socio-political
situations and the reasons as well.
George Orwell,- an English writer who brought the idea of Big Brother in his famous
novel 1984. The character Big Brother (B.B) was an obscure image and reflected as chief of a
totalitarian regime in totalitarian society. His novel is mainly dystopian fiction novel which deals
with the risks of outwitting the government, totalitarism the general mass and their repressive
regimentation. In totalitarian regime public constantly keeps alert with the slogan ‘Big brother is
watching’ where big brother is the head that regime. This quote points out that the state is always
aware of their every activities. I have used this concept into my research to relate with the reality
of the state in relation to the graffiti. As he started in his novel that everyone in the society was
under the authority’s surveillance which was remained to the public repeatedly by this quote.
Also I tried to see that the Graffiti such as ‘Subodh tui paliye ja’ as an indication of throwing
message to the society, which might be relatively different than the B.B and that context, and this
research would be interesting to interpret through his ideas and reflections on the society. In
B.B’s quote the state basically warns the general public that the state requires complete loyalty
and they must adhere to the laws and activities of government. Where I tried to see Subodh as
complete opposite where someone is asking to leave as the state or authority is reflecting more
rigidly in actions of everyday life.
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Also this research attempts to show the politics behind drawing or making Graffiti as in
the recent history Bangladesh has seen several Graffiti on basis of some movement that all are
connected with political instability or the instability of the broader power.
1.5 Rationale of the Study

This research wanted to explore how graffiti represents messages underlying in the society or in
a particular area or community. In this study my case is three Graffiti (i.e Subodh tui paliye ja,
Bangladesh in Remand, Poushanol), where Subodh is a boy with flashing eye, floating hair, bare
torso and a cage under his right arm with a sun inside. Here Subodh actually indicates or refers
various things like command, irony, threat by giving ambiguous messages. Besides many
questions had been arrived referring Subodh series such as what is Subodh escaping from? More
importantly why? Or is Subodh’s assumed escape not comforting for someone who has survived
the same as Subodh? So this is still a burning question for a certain people. On the other hand
Bangladesh in Remand (বাংলাদেশ রিমান্ডে) is another controversial graffiti in Bangladesh which is

written next to the map of Bangladesh under a light that is used in a remand cell. Remand does
not only mean taking someone to cell. By placing some of the protesters on remand, the
authorities successfully instilled fear among their peers. And the third one is Poushanol which
was a SUST campus based graffiti by drawn by the student and later taken down by the
university authority. Poushanol was mainly a cultural program organized by Shommilito
Shangskritik Jot to show their protest against administration. For these reasons, I have chosen
this issue to do my research. By doing this study I tried to seek how graffiti represents the socio-
political situation in the context of Bangladesh in anthropological lens.
1.6 Literature Review and Research Gap
I have discussed some existing literature on graffiti around the world those are related to my area
of interest. I hope this will draw a picture of gaps that I want to contribute with my intended
research. However I want to start with the book that made a clear distinction between street art
and graffiti. Alison Young illustrated in her book Street Art, Public City: Law, Crime and the
Urban Imagination (2014) that, Graffiti consists of the writing of often cryptic-name based
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‘tags’, ‘throw ups’ and ‘Pieces’ on surface by and largely for members of the global graffiti
community whereas street art includes a far wider range of images, symbols, designs and
statements that are often legible to people outside of the street art community. In her book she
wanted to analysis the controversial and often misunderstood act of producing art in public
places. In her first chapter, ‘The Situation Art Work’ where she mainly focused on street art
which is about the urban context in which street art is produced as much as it is about the product
and producers of street art. Here the writer is more enthusiastic about street art and street artist
like Banksy, JR and Miso where she is interested in how uncommissioned art in public places
awakens the everyday observer’s consciousness through enchantment expressed as admiration as
well as revolution. Here she wanted to see whether street artworks can help to create a public
city. In this book street art is also regarded as transgressive behavior where this type of
communicative practice capable of fostering new ways of being in public space; as a political
practice; as akin to advertising; and as an aspect of urban space. In chapter 4 ‘Criminalising the
Image’ and in chapter 5 ‘Street art and Spatial Politics’ Young compellingly pointed out that
uncommissioned images become defined as criminal not as a result of some fundamental fact,
but as a result of the ways in which seemingly superficial marks left on surfaces challenge
existing moral geographies, dominant use-values and the ownership of property. For Young
street art need to be commissioned or even decriminalized, but it is in fact its illicit status that
forces us to imagine a city of multiplicity in which street artists expose the multiple boundaries
and borders of the propertied cityscape. The final chapter of the book ‘Transformation: Urban
Imagination of the Public City’ is indicative of the current state of street art where incomplete
and inconclusive regarding the uncomfortable relationship between street art and the social,
cultural and economic transformation of the contemporary urban environment.
So here Alison Young mainly focused on defining street art and the distinction between
street art and graffiti and also about how uncommissioned street art is regarded as transgressive
behavior which is related to criminal activity. Here writer sought conversation between those
who want to protect their property where ownership works and those who want to adapt city
spaces to their own ends and those who believe that the authority to do so is vested only in
government agencies or through property ownership. This article is more about whether it is
linked with criminology and ownership of spaces where the background of using street art and
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graffiti in public spaces, perception of people while observing street art and graffiti and is there
any possibility for which a social or political instability can take place, are not found.
Bangladesh is a canvas for street artists but the two Graffiti including one campus based graffiti
were taken down by the authority which indicates the controversial figure or criminality on the
other hand. So here, tried to see the reasons behind three Graffiti being controversial.
Josh MacPhee’s (2009) article Street Art and Social Movement showed that when some
legitimate system of communication fail individuals or groups in a society, people often turn in
to illegal ways of communicating with both each other and the system attempting to control
them. Then graffiti and street art come as a safety valve for individuals to suppress their anger
and frustration whether in the form of scrawling angry messages on bathroom stalls or posting
posters on the windows of government buildings. But it is only then when the vast majority of
the people begin to feel that they have no other outlet to communicate. Here writer used mainly 4
case studies (Paris in May 1968, Nicaragua in the late 1970s, South Africa in the late 1980s and
Argentina from 2001-04) to illustrate the integration of social struggles and street art. In Paris in
May and June of 1968 there was a student and worker revolt that brought France to the brink of
revolution. Accompanying this revolt was a groundswell of creative street expression especially
in the form of graffiti’s poems and slogans and political posters. This counter narrative written
on the street not only attracted people because of it’s graphic power or sense of humor but also
there were days at a time when workers in French TV, radio and press were on strike. The walls
were literally the only place to get the news. In July 1979, the people of Nicaragua carried out a
successful revolution over Anastasia Somoza, a US backed dictator. The revolution, largely
carried out by the FSLN (Sandinista Front for National Liberation, or Sandanistas for short) was
preceded by decades of political organizing and guerilla military activity against Somoza, and
over 100 years of resistance to US intervention in the country. An integral part of this activity, at
least since the mid 1960s was the pinta, what the Nicaraguans call a graffiti’d political slogan.
As the struggle against Somoza developed, so did the use of graffiti, with more and more of it
painted each year — to threaten Somoza’s National Guard, to inspire the population of workers
and farmers, and to mark occupied territory. In the late 1970s, there was a huge youth uprising in
South Africa against apartheid, and mass resistance to decades of the strict enforcement of laws
prohibiting anti-apartheid organizing, anti-racist activism, and independent union activity. In
2001 in Argentina IMF rocked austerity programs, the economy of Argentina nearly collapsed at
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the end of 2001. Having no faith in the economy, the middle class started taking huge amounts of
money out of the banks, so the government placed limits on the amount of money that could be
withdrawn. In December, Argentina defaulted on its IMF loans and the bank owners began
loading money out of the banks into armored trucks and driving it out of the country. Almost
overnight the walls were covered with political slogans and poetic stencils. So to say street art
and graffiti actually are a dynamic tools which can be wielded for social transformation, but it
does not create revolutions alone. According to the writer street art and Graffiti can make the
transparent the systems of control in our environment, bringing courage to those being
controlled, and fear to those doing the controlling. Graffiti or street art can make a move or bring
about a change while other ways fails to express anything. Although this article has shown
results of using street art and Graffiti but it is not clearly subjected that how street art as well as
Graffiti can be a way to show such a move in the first place while they faced resistance. That is
why here I will try to find out the context as well as the context of the three Graffiti and how it
triggered mass people including the authority.
Susan C. Haedicke’s book Contemporary Street Art in Europe: Aesthetic and Politics
(2013) Haedicke states the case for the social and political significance of street arts as a catalyst
for re-evolution and more considered perception of the world, resulting in active democratic
engagement, and for some overtly political sphere as well. According to Haedicke, there is a
grounding in the critical theory of connection between aesthetic and politics. A friction between
the familiar and the unexpected stimulates, a desire to understand critically what had seemed
natural moments before. This book provides socio-historical route through the latter half of the
twentieth century, as street arts developed through political upheaval and rebellion against the
establishment, inspired by the experiential ideals of the situationists. The notions of democratic
performatives that allow for an active citizenship, contextualizing them in relation to street art
processes and events. Here Haedicke highlights three general forms as generators of independent
spectatorship, through reclamation of public space, are theatrical intervention, art-making as a
social practice, and the highlighting of social contrast within a critical frame. For Haedicke there
is also an interesting postscripts that opens up on the evolving meaning of ‘street’ or public
space, as discursive site that may no longer be attached to a geographical location and art which
draws upon this changing arena.
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This book is about whether street arts acquire a socio-political significance as they offer
the public the opportunity to view daily life through a lens of art and re-evaluate the meaning and
the function of daily activities and urban spaces. Again it shows whether the dynamic
interrelationship of performance, participant and place creates a unique politicized aesthetic of
public space that, in turn, enables the public to rehearse democratic practices. Whereas my
concern is to see the context behind the Graffiti as well as street art and whether these art has any
connection with socio-political significance or any situation that makes them controversial.
Again how people take it, how they observe arts on the street wall with or without taking any
action or give a think about it was also in my focus which later I have tried to find out. Moreover
these literatures have showed me some perspectives and helped me to understand clearly that
how street arts have become Graffiti and they have the difference. Also there is a clear message
about vandalistic art like Graffiti which are related to criminality only if it shows transgressive
behavior. And about socio-political context behind Graffiti in the earlier literature that Haedicke
has showed was clear enough to understand how it triggers those arts as resistance.
However, there is no substantial research in Bangladesh that deals with Graffiti in

general. Most importantly, no researchers showed any interest to show how people perceive
street art or Graffiti. Furthermore, the understanding and cultural perception regarding Graffiti
will explore a new horizon of the current philosophical standpoints of general people regarding
resistance.
1.7 Limitations
This research is a social art based research though it has some advantages like opportunity to
collect and analyze data in real-time, opportunity to collect a wide diversity
messages/information, corresponding to different moments, higher level of transparency, large
sample from different geographical areas with relatively little restraints but it has some
limitations. First of all, as I have conducted research with two large controversial Graffiti which
were about government issues, however they were demolished afterwards. That is why I could
not get sufficient data, which could help my research to have the exact information. Another
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limitation was, as I selected random people during my interview, some people had zero
knowledge about Graffiti, as it is a new trend in Bangladesh and also some were biased with
political party so their answers were biased as well.
Chapter Two
Methods and Study Area
2.1 Observation
2.2 Interview
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Methods and Study Area
This research demand an intense fieldwork and ethnographic narratives of the people. Therefore,
this research conducted in the qualitative approach. However, my plan was to incorporate couple
of method to collect and analyze the data from the field. As my ‘field’ is relatively wide, and
unstructured, I planned to work with purposive sampling.
This chapter will discuss about the methods and the study area of my research. Here,
there are two types of data sources. I have collected data from social media and newspaper,
which is my primary source of data. To get primary data I have used few anthropological
methods (observation, interview, checklist and critical discourse analysis. Graffiti analysis,
image interpretation, text analysis etc. are the core of visual anthropology from the very
beginning of this subject. Some TV channels, online news portal and newspapers were selected
to analyze the history and the ongoing situations. For gathering secondary data I have reviewed
related literature, journals,
books, websites.
2.1 Observation
Observation is a systematic watching with a view to specific objectives. According to P.V Young
“Observation may be defined as systematic viewing coupled with consideration of the seen
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phenomena.” Observation is unique in that it can be used both as a research method and as a data
collection method (powell & Connaway,2004).
In the recent years in Bangladesh some Graffiti raised quite some interest and responses
which by the way later government took them down even though they did not carry any anti-
government messages. My point is to see the other Graffiti of Bangladesh which are
noncontroversial and so they are not taken down by any of the authority, again they did not gain
any interest as those three Graffiti. So, I have observed them in order to understand the factors
why these three were controversial enough to take down by the government or by the authority.
And with observing the whole area I have tried to sort out peoples reaction around Graffiti.
2.2 Interview
Interview is one of the effective research method that I have planned to use in my research.
According to McNamara (1999) interviews are particularly for getting the story behind the
participant’s experience. Being an interviewer I hope to pursue in-depth information around the
topic. As I am concern about different types of interview, I planned to work with informal
interviews. I have took the long term interview in an informal settings as I think, a deeper
understanding from the people who have encountered Graffiti in different stage.
I have applied this method on some Graffiti artists, some random viewer, passerby and
those who are somehow linked with this process or artwork in order to know about their
perception and what may the messages can be from these three graffiti and the reasons behind it.

Critical discourse Analysis (CDA) stems from a crucial theory of language that sees the
utilization of language as a sort of social follow. All social practice are tied to specific historical
contexts and are the means by which existing social relations are reproduced or contested and
different interest are served. It is the questions pertaining to interests –
- How is the text positioned or positioning?

- Whose interests are served by this positioning?
- Whose interests served by this positioning?
- Whose interests negated?
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- What are the consequences of this positioning?
These questions relate discourse to relations of power. Where analysis seeks to know however
discourse is involved in relations of power, it is referred to as Critical Discourse Analysis.
Discourse analysis can loosely be defined as a systematic and explicit study of the structures and
social or cultural functions of media messages, understood as specific types of text and talk (Van
Dijk 1991 Pp.108). Critically Discourse Analysis is a qualitative analytical approach for
critically describing, interpreting, representing and explaining the ways in which discourses
construct, maintain and legitimize social inequalities. CDA is particularly interested in linguistics
manifestations of power. The exercise of power influences knowledge, beliefs, understandings,
ideologies, norms, attitudes, values and plan and CDA seeks to uncover, reveal and disclose
implicit or hidden power relations in discourse. Power can be exercised indirectly through the
control of discourses. For example – through proper ties of syntax, rhetoric or turn taking. Power
can exercised through linguistic surface structures such as tone, hesitation, pause, laughter or
form of address or by controlling context (Mullet 2018).
Fairclough’s (1989, 1995) model for CDA consists three inter-related process of analysis tied to
three inter-related dimensions of discourse. These three dimensions are-
1. The object of analysis ( including verbal, visual and visual texts)

2. The processes by means of which the object is produced and received
(writing/speaking/designing/viewing) by human subjects.
3. The socio-historical conditions which govern these process.
Fairclough also stated that each of these dimensions requires a different kind of analysis-
- Text analysis (description)

- Processing analysis ( interpretation)
- Social analysis ( explanation)
Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) dealt with the linguistic understandings of how and why the
texts affect readers, viewers and hearers. This approach uncovers the “hidden ideologies” that
can influence a reader or viewer or hearer’s view of the world. It is an attempt to demonstrate
how text producers use language in a way that could be ideologically significant. Here some
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Graffiti i.e Subodh, Bangladesh in Remand, Poushanol, Permanent State of Happiness, Helmet
Bhai, Shohomot Bhai have been chosen for analyzing. These Graffiti have been chosen because
those are painted with texts. By these Graffiti, the Graffitists expressed their emotion and their
thoughts about the states or the situations that aren’t supposed to be happened and not expected.
The painting along with texts are trying to say something that the artists cannot express directly.
By analysing the text I have find the discourses, secondly by processing analysis, I have
interpreted the texts and know the factors of politics of representation and lastly by the social
analysis, I have explained the position of Graffiti that how this art is being taken by the people of
all classes and positions in the society.
Secondary Resources
In my study secondary resources are the source of information in research. The news, blogs
where these Graffiti has been discussed and analyzed, aside from literature, I have used these as
secondary resource and relate to my work as information to understand the broader
understanding.
Study Area
Graffiti has been the way to express emotions and resistance from the ancient time. This research
is the part of visual anthropology. Visual anthropology concerns the use of visual material in
anthropological research as well and it is the study of visual systems and visible culture. It is
broad with both substantive topics which it investigates and through the fact that it lies at the
interface between anthropology and its audiences. It is much concerned with representation and
consumption of anthropological knowledge as with the production of that knowledge. One
agenda of visual anthropology is to analyze the properties of visual system and the conditions of
their interpretation and to relate the particular systems to the complexities of the social and
political processes that they are a part. Second agenda is to analyze the visual means of
discriminating anthropological knowledge itself (Morphy and Banks, 1997).
In this research I went to those area where these three Graffiti (i.e. Subodh tui paliye ja,
Bangladesh in Reman, Poushanol) drawn. As I wanted to know the perception and interpretation
about those and also their reaction of these Graffiti. Subodh Graffiti series was first found around
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Agargaon which can be found on a wall across the headquarters of the National Meteorological
Department, next to old airport in Dhaka. Another one found on the wall of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar
Government Boy’s High School nearby. And the third one found near Purabi Cinema Hall in
Mirpur 7. Later, after the creator of Subodh Graffiti series caught up by police, new Subodh
Graffiti showed up in some places of Dhaka by saying Subodh ekhon jele, Subodh kobe hobe
bhor?. On the other hand Bangladesh in Remand graffiti was found on the wall of Dhaka
University’s Jagannath Hall and Rokeya Hall. And the third graffiti in my research Poushanol
was found on the wall of Shahjalal University of Science & Technology which is situated in
Akhalia area in Sylhet district. Though my some of my study Graffiti were demolished but I
have observed other similar Graffiti to collect data from the mentioned places.
Chapter Three
Graffiti as an Anthropological Site
3.1 Graffiti and its History in Global Context
3.2 Graffiti in Local Context

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Graffiti as an Anthropological Site
According to the philosopher Nicholas Riggle, “most of the academic work on street art and
Graffiti has not been by art historians, but by anthropologists and sociologists; so it would
appear as a creation of street art is a very human thing; at its core.”
In Anthropology, whenever we start a study on a topic in a specific society, we analyze

the socio-cultural context of that topic. By analyzing its history, it is possible to understand the
whole view of that society with a holistic approach. In that case, Graffiti which is like relatively
new trend in Bangladesh where it is been practicing globally since 60s. For that reason, I find it
important to study about Graffiti through anthropological landscape.
Street art and Graffiti is certainly a philosophy, if only because it is illegal in nature
necessitates a certain mental framework to create it. However, unlike pop art street art’s
germination, and so, philosophy, was much less considered, it wasn’t trying to be or do anything
except to make anyone look, and think twice. 1
For Nicholas Riggle an artwork is only a street art or Graffiti, if and only if its creator
uses the street art as an artistic resource. For a work to use an artistic resource it is necessary that
1
https://www.myartbroker.com/blog/street-art-as-a-philosophy/
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the creator of the work intentionally use it in the creation of the work. In that case, in using the
street, artists willingly subject their work to all of its many threats.
3.1 The Graffiti and Its History in Global Context
Graffiti art is one of the most radical contemporary art movement by which it commonly refers
to decorative imagery applied by paint or other means on building or on the walls of public
spaces, public transports or other property. So to say Graffiti is a form of art involving painting
texts or images in public spheres. Graffiti has served as naturally individualistic expression
throughout the history i.e. Viking graffiti on the walls of eighth-century churches. But it has also
developed into a visual and narrative utterance of a collective group. As an expressive art form
graffiti has a long and proud history all over the world. The subculture surrounding graffiti has
existed several decades and still consider to be going strong. Basically graffiti has existed since
ancient times likewise dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and also the Roman Empire.
In the 1st century BCE Romans regularly inscribed messages in the public walls, while oceans
away Mayans were prolifically scratching drawings onto their surfaces, but it wasn’t always a
subversive act (Stowers, 1997). Graffiti as a form of visual communication is found on the walls
of ancient sepulchers or ruins, as in the catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii, graffiti was carved by
the ancient Romans on walls and monuments, example of which also survive in Egypt. (Ancelet,
2006). In Pompeii ordinary citizens regularly marked public walls with magic spells, prose about
unrequited love, political campaign slogans and even messages to champion to their favorite
gladiators (Stowers, 1997). These walls of Pompeii, preserved for two thousand years under
volcanic eruption, are marked with countless examples of this Roya custom. (Olmart, 1996).
On the other hand, substantial Graffiti writings on the pyramids and temples of ancient
Egypt , and it could be the matter of argument that the rock paintings in Southern France which
date from 50000 BC are early examples of a kind of Graffiti. But for many philosopher and
Plutarch Graffiti was pointless and ridiculous. But it wasn’t until the 5 th century that the roots of
the modern concept of vandalism were planted. At that time, a barbaric tribe known as vandals
swept through the Rome, pillaging and destroying the city (Schacter, 2014). But it wasn’t until
the centuries later that the term vandalism was actually coined in an outcry against the defacing
of art during the French revolution. That is when Graffiti became increasingly associated with
24 | P a g e
deliberate rebellion and provocativeness it took on its vandalistic label. This is part of the reason
why today many graffiti artist stay underground. Later artists started to establish comradery and
make claim to territory. During World War 2 both the Nazi party and resistance groups covered
wall with propaganda (Schacter, 2014). And the Berlin walls one-sided Graffiti can be seen as a
striking symbol of repression versus relatively unrestricted public access. This is how actually
Graffiti has made some history over the years.
Graffiti in the classical world had different meanings than it carries in today’s society
concerning on the contents. The tradition of wall writings has occurred all over the world and
continues to the present time although developments in the technology of paint have made it
more of an opportunity both for art and defacement on a grand scale. But it was the example of
Pompeii that provided the world and English language, an Italian word for it: Graffiti. The word
Graffiti was used in English as early as 1851 with regard to charismatic inscriptions at Orkney.
In 1873 with regard to Greek poets “Even the Graffiti of Pompeii have scarcely more power to
reconstruct the past”. (McDonald, 2013) During the time of Ancient period Graffiti has also been
used by the Mayan site of Tikal in Guetmala. Viking Graffiti survived in Rome and at
Newgrange Mound in Ireland and a Varangian scratched his name (Halvdan) in runes on a
bannister in the Hagia Sophia at Constantinople. These early form Graffiti contributed to the
understanding of lifestyles and languages of past cultures (Tacherons, 2012).
Renaissance artists i.e. Pinturicchio, Michelengelo, Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi

descended into ruins of Nero’s Domus Aurea, they painted or carved their names. There are also
examples of Graffiti occurring in American history i.e. Signature rock, a national landmark along
the Oregon Trail. Afterwards French soldiers carved their name on the monuments during the
time of Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790’s, the reminiscence of scrawled signatures
can be seen even if one visits the great pyramids of Egypt (Leibowitz, 2012).
Modern Graffiti began in Philadelphia in the 1960s but shortly after the death of Chrlie
Parker who was an American saxophonist and composer, also known as “Yardbird” or “Bird” in
1955. That time Graffiti began to appear around in New York with the word “Bird Lives”. But it
was not noticeable till 1970 precisely. Around 1970-71 the center of Graffiti culture shifted from
Philadelphia to New York city, especially around Washington Heights, where suspect such as
TAKI 183, and Tracy 168 started to gain notoriety for their frequent vandalism. Taki 183 is the
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‘tag’ of a Greek-American Graffitist who was active during 1960s and early 1970s in New York
city. At the same time period Julio 204 was using a magic marker and spray paint on city walls
as early as 1968, and in 1971, writers like JOE 182 began to mark “bombing”- as many surfaces
as well. By the mid of 70s, many subway cars were so completely covered in top-to-bottom
paintings which are known as “masterpieces”. It was impossible to see out the window. But then
Mayor Lindsey declared the first war on Graffiti on 1972 beginning a long, slow battle that
seemed to culminate in May 1989, when the last Graffitied train was finally removed from
service. But yet today Graffiti etched with acid can be seen on subway windows, on buildings
around the city. The Graffiti moved off the subways and went aboveground. Now it’s on
rooftops, churches and all over the city. Also it has become a private property issue.2
Figure: 1. Graffiti in early years
The tradition of making Graffiti in the global context, especially in South America, it is
considered to be the center of inspiration for many Graffiti artists worldwide. Graffiti developed
2
http://nymag.com/guides/summer/17406/
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in every credible space in Brazil’s cities where Sao Paolo has become the new shrine refers to
“poverty and unemployment; the epic struggles and conditions of the country’s marginalized
peoples; and to Brazil’s chronic poverty as the main motivation that have fueled a vibrant
Graffiti culture” (Manco, 2005). Os Gemeos, Boleta, Nunca, Tikka, Nina, T. Freak and Speto are
the prominent Brazilian Graffiti artists.
In the Middle East, Graffiti slowly came out within the pockets of taggers operating in the
various ‘Emirates’ of the United Arab Emirates as well as in Israel and in Iran. The major Iranian
newspaper called Hamshahri had published two articles on illegal writers with photographic
coverage of Iranian artists ‘A lone’s’ works on Tehran walls.3
In the Southeast Asian region, a large number of Graffiti can be seen which influences by the
modern western culture like Malaysia where Graffiti has long been a common site in Kuala
Lampur, Malaysia’s capital city. The country has begun hosting street festival to encourage all
generations and people from all walks of life to encourage and enjoy Malaysian street culture
since 2010.4
3.2 Graffiti in Local Context
Though Graffiti is a very western concept but new concept in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has a long
history of wall
paintings and street
arts, which usually not
called as Graffiti. It
appeared in its full-
blown character in the
tumultuous days of
political movement in
the 1960s in the then
East Pakistan. In the
year of 1971 the land’s
3
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/97079/5/th-1806_ch3.pdf
4
ibid
27 | P a g e
street arts were dominated by the one and only demand: fight for free Bangladesh. People in
Dhaka and other cities were urged to take up arms against the dictatorial Pakistani rulers. A
common demand in the street arts in those days was declaration of Bangla as one of the state
language of Pakistan. From 1952 to 1971 the students, farmers, people from all ages, all
professions joined on several movements using placards, banners, festoons, and also painting
walls as well. At that time writings on the walls, stamped posters were considered as street arts.
After the independence of Bangladesh, Graffiti this days has turned out to be a
tremendous street art work in Bangladesh. While Graffiti art which are mainly art works done on
wall, is getting widely popular in developing countries like India, Iran, China as a culture,
whereas in Bangladesh it remains as
an individual effort of separate
individuals. The tradition of
modern Graffiti is steeped in a
strange mélange of feelings and
messages. Once upon a time
people featured demands for the
downfall of the colonial rulers.
Now today’s developed nations
have long been free of political
Graffiti. Bangladesh is one of Figure 3. Subodh Graffiti in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Source: Prothom
Alo.
them. For Bangladesh, the wall
has always been a canvas of art, a manuscript of an epic for political activists. In the recent years
a series of Graffiti began popping up around Dhaka city. They depicted a boy with scraggy hair
and beard, fleeing with a caged sun. This Graffiti was called Subodh, which had several
messages on several wall i.e. ‘Subodh tui paliye ja Shomoy ekhon tor pokkhe na, Subodh kobe
hobe bhor, Subodh tui paliye ja tor vagge kichu nei.’ After that other Graffiti started to pop up in
every occasion of movements like দুধ চা খেয়ে তোকে গুলি করে দিব, Banana is a nonpolitical fruit, বাংলাদেশ
রিমান্ডে, সহমত ভাই, uff.
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Street art is an amorphous beast encompassing art which is found in or inspired by the urban
5
environment. It is a democratic form of public art with anti-capitalist and rebellious undertones.
Therefore street art is a form of visual art created on surfaces in public spaces like exterior
building walls, highway overpasses and sidewalks. Though the term usually refers to
unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiative. But street art can include
traditional Graffiti artwork, stencil Graffiti, sculpture, sticker art, wheatpasting and street poster
art, video projection, art intervention, guerilla art and street illustrations.
5
https://artradarjournal.com/2010/01/21/what-is-street-art-vandalism-graffiti-or-public-art-part-i/
29 | P a g e
Though Graffiti is one
kind of street art where both forms
of public expression aren’t always
done with the permission of
property owners which brings the
issue of vandalism into the
equation. But they are different art
forms. The main difference
between Graffiti and street art is
intend. Graffiti artists do not
intend for the public for Figure 4. A street art in Lisbon, Portugal. Source: Google.
understand their work where street
artist want people to see their work
because their goal is to provoke
discussion and reaction. Street art
uses the street artistically. Some
Graffiti does that and some
Graffiti doesn’t, in this case some
Graffiti is street art and some isn’t.
Moreover street art is
understandable henceGraffiti Figure 5. A Graffiti by Banksy
isn’t, though Graffiti art is
elaborative and figurative combined with images. Also Graffiti highlights one of society’s
contradiction when protest is transmuted into product and neutered. Again Graffiti tends to be
more appealing to a specific group of followers or people. These people understand how the
messages is expressed through cryptic message of words and letters. Street art on the other hand
has become well known for uplifting a building highlighting an event, depicting characters or
just adding color and shape to an area needing to be uplifted. One thing about Graffiti is ‘tag’
which is the core of Graffiti writing.
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An urban area is the region surrounding city where most inhabitants have nonagricultural jobs.
Urban areas are very developed which means there is a density of human structures such as
houses, commercial buildings, roads, bridges, and railways. 6 This urban area can refer to towns,
cities, and as well as suburbs.
In anthropology as a symbolic medium, space, landscape and place can be seen as

communicative; “an expression of culturally shared mental structure and embodied process
(Low, 2000). Space can be used to carry social meanings that are culturally and historically
constructed as well as contested (Aucoin, 2017). On the other hand places are socially
constructed by the people who live in them and know them; they are politicized, culturally
relative and historically specific multiple constructions (Rodman, 1992). For Low the social
production of space includes all those factors- social, economic, ideological and technological-
which result the, in the physical creation of the material setting. Also social construction can be
reserved for the phenomenological and symbolic experience of space mediated by social process
such as exchange, conflict and control. Whereas social production is useful in defining emersion
and political or economic formation of urban space. Thus the social construction of space is the
actual transformation of space through people’s social exchanges, memories, images and daily
use of the material setting into scenes and actions that convey symbolic meaning. Both the
production and the construction of space is contested and fought over for economic and
ideological reasons. For Low, by understanding social production and social construction can
help to see how local conflicts over space can be used to uncover and illuminate larger issues.
That is, urban spaces exclude certain groups of people due to privatization of public spaces or
inscribe differently by different cultures, social theories, myths, scientific, political or socio-
cultural or even though tourist activities. So space is the place for any kind of incidents or events
that can create a creative place for its people.
Basically, communication with urban people through Graffiti happen to see in urban
context. On the other hand, it is considered to be a creative place or city in every urban place so
Graffitists select the urban space as creative place. Creative city approaches have been widely
considered as promising forms of postindustrial urban development (Landry and Bianchini 1995;
6
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/urban-area/
31 | P a g e
Florida 2003). In the context of urban decline in Germany, policies that promote development
through culture and creativity have been on the rise in the last 20 years (Liebmann and
Robinchon, 2003). Making Graffiti is more like a cultural practice. But in the case of Graffiti, it
can be seen only in the urban context. Some can say that maybe it is because where intellectual
public lives. But they can come from rural sides as well. Not necessarily they have to come from
urban spaces. The reason behind making graffiti in the urban context is it has a huge canvas to
draw.
Urban spaces have these walls whereas rural areas don’t have that. For instance, walls of
big sculpture, or walls of huge railway station. We don’t find these walls on village. This is why
globally the locations of Graffiti is an important subject to think about. Graffities are generally
drawn in abandoned places because Graffitists usually choose to draw there. Therefore, they do it
in the urban places because there they have more abandoned places than rural. Another important
thing is doing exhibition. The Graffities they are putting, they must create a communication for
it, so they need to execute it. For that exhibition they need to draw Graffiti in a location which is
relatively close to the broader urban neighborhood. Broader urban neighborhood usually consists
of different classes of neighborhood such as: urban poor, urban intellectuals, urban educated
class, working class, all of them live together in different locations.
In the context of Bangladesh, if we analyze the locations, we can find that most of the
Graffiti is located in the university campus. And afterwards some of them are in different parts of
the country. Those are painted in different specific locations i.e. Agargaon or Mirpur or in Old
Dhaka which are consider to be a busy areas. So in this case it is been observed, places that are
usually crowded, where eyes can be drawn to the artworks, Graffities are drawn there. Another
thing is urban neighborhood has a complex citizen gathering of different layers of intellectuals.
This is why we have many thoughts and practices of cultural diversity here in the city. And
multiple cultures can perform in their own way and it depends on individuals that which culture
they want to take or not. So, because of this openness and preference, it is relatively easier to
work on Graffiti’s in urban places.
Graffiti in urban spaces are considered to be a crime. Those who are property owners, law
enforcement personnel, and Graffiti opponents, however generally unaware of and uninterested
32 | P a g e
of social and cultural nuances, from their perspectives the productions of Graffitists at their yard
and other locations in the city are strictly vandalism and so this is crime. They are illegal and
without the permission of the properties’ owner. To them Graffitists and their work are
destructive, disrespectful, disruptive, prone to violence and also detrimental to the interests of the
community (Docuyanan, 2000). These Graffitists or Graffiti writers are more concerned to socio-
legal practices, stiffer fines, jail times, ‘zero tolerance’ politics, ‘citizen patrols and surveillance’,
and monetary ‘reward programs’ that compensate individuals who are able to catch those in the
act of defacing property (Rainey, 1993; Simon, 1993). Their appropriation of urban
environments suggests a certain “resistance’’ to the aesthetics of authority (Ferrel, 1995).
However, it is a farm logic of possession and ideas of ownership which are inherent in current
laws punishing those who make graffiti on property they do not own. But ironically the same
logic of ownership remains an integral component of Graffitists place making efforts in urban
spheres.
Between urban space (with its ostensible emptiness and potential) and urban place (with
its varied social, emotional and physical investments loaded with meaning), there is property and
territory (space recognized and understood to be owned by some individual or group)- not a
thing but a set of rights and interests backed by the force of law (Held, 1980). When various
notions of ownership (territory and property) are challenged and violated by this kind of
vandalism or wall art or Graffiti in the urban spaces then it is considered to be crime. 7
In the context of Bangladesh, when Subodh Graffiti series drew a huge amount of
attention, government ordered to find out its Graffitists. And also, they were ordered to wipe out
those Graffiti from those places. The police then arrested who they say is the creator of the
much-talked-about Graffiti series “Subodh”, along with his two alleged collaborators. The
suspect whose identity they did not revealed where the artist had to face a number of serious
charges, including vandalism, sedition and conspiracy.8 The prosecutor of the case MA Jaal-il
also brought an additional charge against the suspect under section 57 of the ICT Act, alleging
the suspect “created possibility to deteriorate law and order”. Despite the fact, the prosecutor
alleged that the suspect’s alleged offences occurred offline. That is to say, on the street walls he
7
http://www.lapdonline.org/top_ten_most_wanted_gang_members/content_basic_view/23471
8
https://www.thedailystar.net/star-weekend/satire/subodh-artist-arrested-1485427
33 | P a g e
instigated others to republish his arts on Facebook walls.9 According to public prosecutor about
this Subodh Graffiti series-
“At a time when the country sees the highest ever growth in every possible sector one can
possibly imagine calling someone to run away from the country is indeed suspicious and
nefarious”
To them, the creator of Subodh Graffiti series was subsequently accused of “instilling
terror into the publics mind” through his artwork. They think that someone is trying to inject fear
in people’s mind. A security expert was quoted by a newspaper as saying-
“It’s a propaganda, a strategy to elicit fright among the mass people.” 10
Interpreting them as works of an anarchist element trying to destabilize the country by

calling for a break from the status-quo, the police reportedly formed a special team and increased
11
surveillance to catch the mastermind behind the Graffiti. I was talking to some students from
Dhaka University about the Subodh graffiti, where they were sharing their thoughts about its
illegality by saying-
“Most of the Graffiti artisits draw Graffiti at midnight, so that no one sees. Why would they do
that? I mean if they are not doing anything illegal, or want to make people see then they can do
it on the day time. Now, see there is this doubt about them which they are creating on their
own!”
On the other hand Poushanol a campus based Graffiti did not face the similar problem
but the Graffiti was effaced by the university authority. Though the Graffiti was the exponents of
resistance by the students against authority as authority were frequently showing them the kind
of oppressive acts. They drew Poushanol Graffiti without authority’s permission and organized
an event to show the authority about their guts that they can arrange events in such an organized
way without their permission. But the next day in the morning students saw that the Graffiti was
wiping out. And they were on behalf of the authority. For the students, they think, this Graffiti
reminds them (the university authority) what the students did against them.
9
ibid
10
Ibid
11
ibid
34 | P a g e
Banksy is consider to be one of the world’s most notorious and popular Graffitists from
England who continues to remain faceless until today. He is known for his political, anti-war
stencil art mainly in Bristol, England. But his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to
Palestine. Banksy’s art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art
supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as
Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them while officials and other areas have his work
to be vandalism and have removed it. So to say, it is up to the broader power to consider Graffiti
as a crime until it doesn’t cost them but most of the cases this type of Graffiti are always
consider to be vandalism and for this it is a crime.
35 | P a g e
Chapter Four
Graffiti: Communication and Representation
Graffiti: Communication and Representation
36 | P a g e
People have a desire to communicate with people through their creative means. Communication
is the process which can make people feel like they are a part of this community, whether they
draw negative reactions or not. Many people like to use artistry to communicate their thoughts,
where others enjoy painting visual pictures with words. Again some people use legal way to
communicate with people whereas others do the exact opposite. Graffiti is one of the artistic way
of communication. But most of the time this artwork is considered as illegal. The reason why
Graffiti considered to be illegal is, it is legal as long as the writing will not upset a “reasonable”
person. Each and every person has a different interpretation of what reasonable means but what
is reasonable is tend to be determined by the certain class of the society. It is basically
whatsoever protects the businessmen’s property and whatever maintains the status quo. As long
as no one is affecting their workforce by causing undue stress or exhaustion to them, then that
kind of communication is reasonable. In Wisconsin of United states it has been seen that some
people seem to want to let everyone know that they are a part of this city, whether others like it
or not. As a result, they left very similar looking art ‘onyvarious’ buildings throughout the city.
However Graffiti has spread beyond socio-economic classification. It is a form of

communication to highlight social injustice. For instance, the separation wall between the west
bank and Israel which is prepared with a number of socio-political commentaries pieces. This
wall has most prolific, creative and original political works that currently exist. The images on
the separation wall make the viewer question the purpose of that barrier and its impact on the
perception of the people living on both sides about each other. 12
12
https://sampleface.co.uk/graffiti-as-mass-communication/?
fbclid=IwAR286M4OPCYQ9s5nP2TdCpuSFdbzdREf7e2phiHtJmhnMvgY0IdNjl1mGAM
37 | P a g e
Figure: 6. Separation wall in the West Bank. Source: Google.
Figure 7: Banksy Graffiti on the Separation Wall in Israel.

Source: Google.
However Graffiti artists, communities are engaging themselves globally through Graffiti
as a way of communication. For instance there are many places that are famous for Graffiti.
Likewise Los Angeles, New York, Spain, Halle (Saale), Melbourne etc. Halle is one of those
place in former East Germany that has experienced a long periods of urban decline following
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German reunification. That place has buildings from world war II; those were not constructed
again. A huge part of those buildings, 6-7 streets to be precise are abandoned. Some Graffiti
artists and hippies live in the east part of Halle and they express their intellectuality through
Graffiti. In Los Angeles back in 1930s the Chicano and African-Americans gangs started Graffiti
writing practices. Therefore, Graffiti writing practices began to develop on the west coast during
the 1970s and early 1980s when east coast ‘hip-hop’ styles began to reach Los Angeles.
Although graffiti is a recent trend in Bangladesh but it has a long history all over the
world. The trend of wall paintings is not new in history but not all have been considered as
graffiti, therefore it has some characteristics for calling it as graffiti. The Graffiti as medium
creates an open channel, motivational changes over some people who are observing this. It
stands for a type of discontinuous communicative strategy through which, people can engage in a
visual dialogue which does not rely on necessary knowledge of the writers’ identities or face-to-
face interaction. 13In most cases famous graffiti include proclamation of love, witty comments in
response to advertisements, signatures, social or political commentary. The type of Graffiti is for
people who understand the messages and may act to amplify group solidarity. Again, if a
community’s ideological focus is geared toward the larger society or broader structure or the
politics of the larger state where Graffiti messages usually need cryptic symbolism, make use of
the national language and also need more straightforward aesthetic style.
Meanwhile during the fieldwork, I have encountered with the people who were watching
Graffiti, I was randomly talking with them about those Graffiti. I got some clarification about
how it makes communications with them, who are they, who are getting the messages from the
Graffiti. Some of these people were rickshaw pullers, some of them were tea sellers from
roadside, street vendors, university students, office works. I tried to know from them that what
message the got from these Graffiti. Some of them ignored, some of them said they never think
about it, and some of them showed the urge and talked. Moreover, I was curious that who are
thinking about these Graffiti. During the conversation, Ali (fictional name) a rickshaw puller was
saying, “i see because it is not seen everywhere, but I am a illiterate man, I cannot read what is
written so I do not understand but from the picture maybe I can understand.” On the other hand,
13
https://www.graffiti.org/faq/graf.def.html
39 | P a g e
a student from Dhaka University Mira (fictional name) was sharing her thoughts of Graffiti
making and how it means to her and how they communicate with this sort of things. To her,
“While strolling the streets, I only see things like Graffiti, any kind of wall art or painting as
long as they are right in front of my eyes. And as soon as they disappear I stop thinking about it.”
To her “Subodh Graffiti series is telling people to hold on to their own sense to remind them the
good entity of the human being is almost gone.”
of the students were discussing why Bangladeshi Graffiti cannot connect people from all
classes. To them, most of the targeted people are staying in rural areas and the messages are not
reaching to them as per the desired hype it was supposed to make. On the other hand Graffiti is
not the only way to express thoughts, it can be a street drama, it can be by singing. But that must
reach in the root level. And that can create hype and draw some attention. Some think that people
drew even a few years ago, but with the increasing interest on Facebook the interest on drawing
Graffiti has decreased. To them, Facebook itself is working as a wall where people can express
what they wish to, which can be in a form of illustration art. It can be status, meme, and as
people are more into Facebook, it always can create a hype which was supposed to be created by
Graffiti. Technology brings the platform of Facebook easily that is why interest in drawing and
enjoying Graffiti may be decreasing. To them to some extent these are some reason why Graffiti
cannot meet up to the desired mark but it has been drawing attention of people since it is a new
trend in Bangladesh.
I was observing from long time sitting next to a Graffiti in front of a residential girls
hostel of University of Dhaka called Shamsunnahar Hall, to see who are actually paying
attention to this Graffiti. Some people were not looking at all, some of them were watching with
curiosity, some of them were stopping there to see what is that, some of them were taking
pictures. So when I got to see that a rickshaw puller was observing it while a white caller suited
person was never even looked at the Graffiti I have come to some conclusion through my
observation that the Graffiti has kind of strength of communication that might not require any
specific category of people, any specific category of mindset which has no specific relation to the
academic qualifications. It has nothing to do with appearance or educational background rather it
has something different layer of communication which has no outcome measuring features but it
has a communication level.
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Political Graffiti, on the other hand may combine with other expressive and artistic forms
i.e. mural painting, political art exhibitions, poster and comic book production, newspaper and
pamphlet production. The signs and marks may represent the work of radical student
movements, unrecognized or underground political groups, or any dissatisfied individuals. This
kind of political Graffiti can make some hype among the people and also political Graffiti may
arise from sudden emergency situations like riots or in response to simultaneous party politics
and political legislation. Though political Graffiti is concerned with the state politics, the group
or the community that produce this type of Graffiti generally make some ‘sub-cultural’ elements
and perhaps make wide use of symbols to further internally applicable quests for power and
solidarity.
Graffiti can express its messages not only via wall art but also through photographs.
Laura Miller on her article Graffiti photos: Language and Art in Japanese Girls’ Culture (2003)
showed that how girls are expressing their thoughts through Graffiti photos, magazines or any
other publications. Most of them are done by the adolescent girls from Japan. For Miller Graffiti
photos are now becoming ubiquitous and have now even leaked into the mainstream medias
crossing both age and gender boundaries.
In Graffiti photos both English and orthographic styling with humor and a touch of the
absurd are used to play with gender definitions and conventions. For instance, in one Graffiti
photo, two girls have drawn black mustaches and black pipes on their faces. The text, which is in
English, and all capital letters, says, “WE ARE BOSE.” For Miller, their photographic cross
dressing tries to replicate the stereotypical male boss of 1930s American gangster movies. The
majority of the producers who produce these Graffiti photos are junior high or high school girls
but with them many mothers are making Graffiti photos of themselves also sometimes with their
spouses, indicating that they retain this aspect of girls’ culture as they transition into adulthood.
Nonetheless this kind of Graffiti photos where photographs are supplemented with new words by
showing what individual want to express providing a new method for forging social bonds and
creating new community of girls separate from their parent’s culture. Also, together with other
forms of popular culture i.e. fashion, music, Graffiti photos draw attention to a growing
generational divide and point to a shift in values and attitudes.
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Graffiti as the other tenants of popular culture still serves as artistic communication to the
masses against social injustices. Therefore, it is an art form that serves as mass communication.
This can disrupt societal conventions in ways which may be socially uncomfortable, but is also
an effective tool for illustrating the interpretations of those who remain the most marginalized
and unheard.

Graffiti is an expression by which people get to know their thoughts and that’s how Graffiti
make the communication among people. That is one aspect of Graffiti is building communication
and another aspect is how it is being represented. Graffiti art represents the ongoing situation
through its artwork. Art is one kind of representation where art represents any kind of aspects. So
art has to be understood in the context in which it was created. Therefore, Graffiti can be a
representation of an aspect that gather insights into discursive tensions related with how
individual treat each other through text (fraser, 1980). Representation is the production of
meaning through language. Language may use signs, stand for or reference objects people and
events in the so called ‘real’ world. There is no simple relationship of reflection, imitation or
one-to-one correspondence between language and the real world. Representation depends on two
related systems. First, the concepts which are formed in the mind function like a system of
mental representation which classifies and organizes the whole world into meaningful categories.
If we have the concept for something, we can say we know the meaning. But we cannot
communicate this meaning without the second system of representation, a language. Language
includes signs organized into relationships. But signs can only convey meaning if we possess
codes which allow us to translate our concept into language and vice versa. These codes are
crucial for meaning and representation. They do not exist in nature but are the result of social
conventions. They are a crucial part of our culture – our shaped “maps of meaning” (Hall, 1992).
There are three approaches that are broadly discussed to explain how the representation of
meaning through language works. In this case, firstly, Stuart hall meant by reflective approach is
thought to lie in the object, person, idea or event in the real world and language functions as a
mirror to reflect the true meaning as it is already exists in the world. Secondly, intentional
approach. Through this approach he meant that This kind of representation argues with the
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opposite case. It holds that it is the speaker, the author, who imposes his or her unique meaning
on the world through language. Words mean what the author intends they should mean. Again
there is some point to this argument since we all, as individuals, do use language to convey or
communicate things which are special or unique to us, to our way of seeing the world. And
thirdly what he meant by constructive approach is this approach recognizes this public, social
character of the language. It acknowledges that neither things in themselves nor the individuals'
users of language can fix meaning in language. Things don’t mean, we construct meaning, using
the representational system, concepts, and signs. According to this approach, we must not
confuse the material world, where things and people exist and the symbolic practices and
processes through which representation, meaning, and language operate.
From the theory of representation, we get three different approaches- the reflective
approach, the intentional approach and third is the constructionist approach. We have to focus on
the third one because it proposed the relationship between things in the world, concepts in
thought and language. The correlation between these level- the material, the conceptual, the
signifying are governed by our culture and linguistic codes and it is this set of interconnections
which produces meaning. It has shown how much this general model of how systems of
representation work in the production of meaning owed to the work of Ferdinand de Saussure.
Here the key point was the link provided by the codes between the forms of expression used by
language (speech, writing, drawing, other types of representation) which Saussure called the
signifiers and the mental concepts associated with them is known as signified. The connection
between these two systems of representation produced signs and signs organized into languages,
produced meanings and could be used to reference objects, people and events in the “real” world
(Hall, 1992)
Foucault introduced the discursive approach to representation by outlining three of his

major ideas: his concept of discourse, the issue of power and knowledge and the questions of the
subject. It might be useful, however, to start by giving you a general flavor. Foucault studied
discourse as a system of representation. Discourse is used as a linguistic concept which means
the passage of connected writing or speech. But Foucault gives it a different meaning. He found
interests with the rules and practices that produced meaningful statements and regulated
discourse in different historical moments. Discourse is about the production of knowledge
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through language. But since all social practices entail meaning and meanings shape and influence
what we do, our conduct, all practices have discursive aspects. Discourse is not only a linguistic
concept, but it is also a concept of language and practice. It defines and produces the objects of
our knowledge. It governs the way that a topic can be meaningfully talked about and reasoned
about. It also influences how ideas are put into practice and used to regulate the conduct of others
(Hall, 1992).
Trying to define social representation is a difficult task as it is a very rich domain and it is
very close to quite similar notions such as stereotypes and attitudes. The classic definition given
by Mocovici himself is – “ social representations are systems of values, ideas, and practices
which enable communication to take place among the members of a community by providing
them with a code for social exchange and a code for naming and classifying unambiguously the
various aspects of their world and their individual and group history (Dervin, 1997)
Claude Levi-Strauss, Studied the customs, rituals, totemic objects, designs, myths, folk-
tales of so-called “primitive” peoples in Brazil, not by analyzing how these things were produced
and used in the context of daily life among the Amazonian people, what messages about the
culture they communicated. He analyzed their meaning not by interpreting their content, but by
looking at the underlying rules ad codes through which such objects or practices produced
meaning and in doing so, he was making a classic Saussurean or structuralist “move” from the
paroles of culture to the underlying structure, its langue. So in studying the meaning of a Graffiti
I have to see the images as signifier to discover how each graffiti including its paints made use of
these rules to ‘say something’ which people could read or interpret within the formal framework
of a particular kind of Graffiti narratives.
During my fieldwork, I saw some other Graffiti that caught my eyes for their messages.
One of them is a picture of a laughing girl where “We Want a Permanent State of Happiness”
was written next to it. It was on the wall of Shamsunnahar Hall, a residential girls hostel under
University of Dhaka. Some people seen to take pictures in front of this Graffiti, without noticing
it at all. Some students were drinking tea right opposite of the hall and some of them were not
paying any attention to it, Some of them were seen to look at it. So seeing that, I was a bit
curious to know what these people think about it. One of the student Mirza (fictional name) was
saying’
44 | P a g e
“I think the painting of a girl in that Graffiti indicates to the entire female nation and the goal is
to demand that women or girls have the freedom to laugh, that is, their freedom. And if you
notice the writing next to it which is saying ‘we want a permanent state of happiness’ and by
‘We’ it means me, you, us may be a boy or a girl whoever this is in particular want to have
freedom to move freely and happily.”
That is, to them

the position girls
are now facing by
being victimized
will be treated
here but also girls
and boys will be
treated equally
where there is
happiness.
Figure: 8. Permanent State of Happiness Graffiti in front of Shamsunnahar Hall, DU
In the context of Subodh Graffiti series i.e., Subodh tui paliye ja, Subodh tui paliye ja
ekhon shomoy pokkhe na. But this Graffiti series is not reflecting as it is hence it is been reflected
as metaphor. In the case of Poushanol, a campus-based Graffiti about which I discussed later,
there are many things that is not possible to express because that would indicate a group of
people that they are not good or they are not doing well. Rather this is actually giving an
indication toward some people who can communicate with this artwork and representing other
category of people as into some category of people. In this discussion I am not going to judge
anyone and also not going to argue that this category is good or bad rather I am trying to bring a
proposition through which, this kind of representation or the politics of representation is
basically presenting a picture. At the same time, presenting a whole bunch of ideas about a type
of people’s thought and that is to make it into a position through a street painting or an art.
45 | P a g e
“I think those who paint Graffiti, they are not like us. I mean they do not think like the way we
think and they have that guts to do it in anyway.”
This was a thought of a random passerby while I was discussing with him about
Graffitist. In the global contest Graffiti is a medium of communication where Graffitists are
making Graffiti through their thoughts and visions. They are generating their thoughts which are
not mainstream with the society. If we look into their way of thoughts and works then we can
consider them as intellectuals. Intellectuals are mainly those who are engaged in critical thinking
as well as reading, doing research about society. They may propose solutions as a creator or as a
mediator. The intellectuals participate in events like either to defend a concrete proposition or to
denounce an injustice usually by rejecting, producing or extending an ideology or by defending a
system value. They mainly participate in the public affairs discourse of society. They are not
mainstream people of the society. For Said (1994),
“True intellectual is, therefore, always an outsider, living in self-imposed exile, and on the
margins of society.”
If we see what Said have said about the intellectuals is those who does these kinds of
artwork, they do not come publicly and also, they like to live at the marginal state of the society.
For instance, the artist of Subodh Graffiti was unable to find for some time. So, he was actually
living at the margins of the society. If we see this in Said’s perspective then he is actually a ‘true
intellectual’.
However, behind making of Graffiti, Graffiti makers are considered to be intellectuals in

my study because they have this thoughts and acts of rejecting or defending the ideology of
powerful broader structure as well as state. In this case they are not claiming themselves as
intellectuals. But if we think in the light of Gramscian aspect then these intellectuals are mainly
46 | P a g e
traditional intellectuals. If we look in to their characteristics then we can come to the point where
we can call them as traditional intellectuals. For Gramsci traditional intellectuals are those who
are not linked to tradition and to past intellectuals. Also, they are not directly connected to the
economic structure of their particular society. In fact, these traditional intellectuals conceive of
themselves as having no basis in any social class and adhering to no particular political or class
discourse. On the other hand, those who oppose the acts of traditional intellectuals and like to
establish political discourses, are consider to be organic intellectuals. According to Gramsci they
are more likely related to the mainstream economic structure. These intellectuals work on behalf
of the capitalist class and whose main business is in helping to shape the broader political, social
and cultural agenda. For Gramsci these types of intellectuals are hegemonic organic intellectuals
and they belong to the dominant class.
On the other hand, when I was discussing with some students of University of Dhaka
from different department about Graffitists, they showed some different perspective about this.
To Joy (fictional name)-
“In a civilized society, no one can do this kind of work at night like Subodh, Bangladesh in
Remand or Permanent state of Happiness Graffiti in Bangladesh. Rather they should come out
and paint these Graffiti in broad day light. Graffiti should be done by the intellectuals known in
the society like Nirmolendu Gun, because society follows and prefers intellectuals like him. also
it will double the hype and reach more people.”
Therefore, for some university students, the do not consider Graffitist or Graffiti artists as
public intellectuals rather they think public intellectuals are those who are actually consider to be
intellectual in the society. But if we see theoretically from Gramscian and Said’s perspective,
then graffitist are the intellectuals.
As a popular platform Graffiti is now practicing all over the world. It is practicing as a popular
culture in West where in Bangladesh it is only a new trend now. In the context of Bangladesh
people are now starting to accept this popular culture in the recent years. But the reason why this
new trend has caught everyone’s eyes is its painting with some alarming messages. As Graffiti is
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consider to be a visual form of communication, people can connect themselves through the
messages it provides.
To her “Subodh Graffiti series is telling people to hold on to their own sense to remind
them the good entity of the human being is almost gone.”
Again many people think that Subodh is a boy or a saint who has fallen into social or
political trap and who can be easily consumed at any moment.
On top of that, to them, most of the targeted people are staying in rural areas and the
messages are not reaching to them as per the desired hype it was supposed to make. On the other
hand Graffiti is not the only way to express thoughts, it can be a street drama, it can be by
singing. But that must reach in the root level. And that can create hype and draw some attention.
Some think that people drew even a few years ago, but with the increasing interest on Facebook
the interest on drawing Graffiti has decreased. To them, Facebook itself is working as a wall
where people can express what they wish to, which can be in a form of illustration art. It can be
status, meme, and as people are more into Facebook, it always can create a hype which was
supposed to be created by Graffiti. Technology brings the platform of Facebook easily that is
why interest in drawing and enjoying Graffiti may be decreasing. To them to some extent these
are some reason why Graffiti cannot meet up to the desired mark but it has been drawing
attention of people since it is a new trend in Bangladesh.
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Chapter Five
Graffiti as a Form of Resistance
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Graffiti as a Form of Resistance
Resistance refers to raise voice, stand against anything. Resistance has often been connected to
antisocial attitudes, destructiveness, reactionary or revolutionary ideologies, unusual sudden
explosions of violence, emotional outburst. With images of protest, and dissent widespread and
frequently spread in news broadcasts and social media posts, resistance to dominant power
structures seems to be an expected and regular feature of contemporary life. Anthropologists
have explored the nature of the events caused by resistance and their political effects,
understanding them as instance of resistance against domination by states and other powerful
institutions or broader structure as well as economic system more broadly. However, the
discipline has also been interested in understanding the broader everyday contexts that make
these great events and moments possible. Seeing resistance as one element in a complex system
of power relations, anthropologists have sought to describe and explain acts of resistance within
the social, cultural and economic events in which they take place.
James C. Scott mainly introduces the idea of oppression and resistance are in constant
flux in his book Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (1985). For
Scott-
“Resistance refers to oppose power hierarchies that reinforce systemic inequality related to
class, gender, race and sexuality through the imposition of curricula, rules and culture.”
Here Scott talked about Foucault’s idea of power. For Foucault where there is power, there is
resistance and this power exists in everywhere in different forms and comes from everywhere
(Foucault, 1998:63). So, the subordinate groups who are powerless they can’t actually stand
against that broader power. For that reason, they do something which is kind of act against of
those. For Scott these kinds of acts are resistance to some extent and they have different kind of
forms to show resistance. One of them is Art work. Here graffiti is that kind of art work that is
50 | P a g e
practiced according to my different literatures where graffiti used as a form of opposing the state
or any kind of decisions.
If we see the theory that Scott talked about, then we can say that Graffiti is one kind of
expression of resistance. By drawing Graffiti people as well as its artists are expressing their
demands to the status quo. As they do not belong to the power structure, they are unable to
protest directly which is why these group of people chose art to show resistance in the society.
Although graffiti is a recent trend in Bangladesh but it has a long history all over the world. The
trend of wall paintings is not new in history but not all have been considered as graffiti,
therefore, it has some characteristics of considering as ‘Graffiti’. Most common styles of Graffiti
have their own names which is called “tag”. Also, other forms are throw up, bomb, piece, block,
bubble etc. However, Graffiti has various content and context where the artists express their
thoughts, these thoughts usually express the ‘alternative’ thoughts from the mainstream grounded
practice. So to say these kind of Graffiti are now making some hype and drawing public attention
as some of them are using as trend like aesthetic work or to show some kind of resistance.
Resistance refers to oppose power hierarchies that systemic inequality related to class, gender,
race and sexuality through the imposition of curricula, rules and culture. (Scott, 1985).
Therefore, the subordinate group who are powerless they can’t actually stand against the broader
power. So, they do some act which is somewhat illegal. Besides Graffiti is not just an art beside
the street where a passerby can look at, rather, it initiates a communication with the people. As in
communication language, any kind of sign language makes a communication. This
communication comes into a meaningful manner when it can connect to the broader audience.
In Bangladesh Graffiti is relatively new trend, which is yet to communicate among the
mass people, but still made some communication took the attention to many in the country. For
instance, ‘Subodh tui paliye ja’ is a graffiti in Bangladesh that made a huge hype and grew a
large amount of attention at home and abroad, especially in the educated class in the country.
This graffiti mainly known as Subodh series as several Graffiti of Subodh with different
messages with painting of a boy were seen on walls in different places of Dhaka city. Such as
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Subodh tui paliye ja, Subodh tui paliye ja ekhon shomoy pokkhe na, Subodh tui paliye ja tor
vagge kichu nei, Subodh tui Paliye ja opekkha toke manay na, Subodh kobe hobe bhor, Subodh
tui paliye ja vuleo fire ashish na, or Subodh ekhon jele. In this Subodh graffiti series Subodh can
be captured by a boy with flashing eye, floating hair, bare torso, a cage with a sun under his right
arm or beside him, with a little girl, or in the jail. Both writings and paintings of these graffiti are
giving some messages to the people that can either make sense regarding any kind of socio-
political situation. Through this, it expresses that many people are deprived of their rights or
telling them the irony of letting go of their sense of good thoughts or good soul. It also expresses
the thought of a boy or any imaginary individual who is still fighting not to let go the goodness
in people where the absence of goodness, good soul or good thoughts can be seen now a days.
From this psychological standpoint they want to keep all that goodness in people through
Subodh series so they want to re-knock the current situation of their psychological state by
showing resistance.
After certain time, certain Graffities are drawn based different incidents where they come
up with new messages. After that, two Graffiti was found on the walls of Jagannath Hall and
Rokeya Hall of University of Dhaka, both of them are student’s residential hall situated in TSC
(Teacher-Student Centre), Dhaka University campus and right beside Tareq-Mishuk Memorial
Monument. These two Graffiti were highly discussed on social media and also drew everyone’s
attention as well. One of them was a penciles’ sharp side which was coming through a throne,
and “Uff” was wriiten right beside it. Another painting was a map of Bangladesh under a light
that is used in a remand cell, and “Bangledesh in Remand (বাংলাদেশ রিমান্ডে) “ was written right
next to it.
Student activism or student movement is an ideas or activities of students involved in

social protest. Mainly student movements work by students to cause political, environmental,
economic, or social change. Modern student activist movement very widely in subject, size, and
success with all kinds of students in all kinds of educational settings participation, including
private and public-school students; elementary, middle, senior, undergraduate, graduate students,
and all races, socio-economic background and political perspectives (Fletcher, 2006). Some
student movements focus on internal affairs of a specific institution while others may focus on a
regional or national policy’s impact on the institution.
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Bangladesh has been witnessing student movements since the War of Liberation of the
country through the Language movement. When the first groups protested the Pakistan
government’s mandate to make Urdu is the official language of the region. From Language
movement for Bangla to Liberation War, students took a huge participation and led those
movements from staying at the forefront. Following this many movements took place, Shahbag
movement is one of them. On February 5, 2013 students called for a movement demanding
capital punishment for Abdul Kadir Mollah who is known as “Rajakar” which means traitor in
Liberation War history. He was been sentenced to life in imprisonment, and for other convicted
of war crime by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh. The movement centered from
Shahbag chattar (circle) and which is why the movement is called Shahbag Movement. 14 Again
in the same year, quota reform movement occurred at the same location that saw Shahbag
Movemnet. The movement was agimst incumbent government policies regarding jobs in the
government sector in the country. Although the movement initially confined to the locality of
Shahbag and Dhaka University campus, but eventually it spread to other parts of Bangladesh.
After that, in 2018 quota reform movement took place at the same place at Shahbag. It started
demanding reforms in policies regarding recruitment in the Bangladesh government service. The
movement then rapidly attained popularity among students of different universities and colleges
forcing the government to announce changes in its policy. 15 But those movements used only
placards, roadpaints, wall paints and writings of demands.
In the same year of 2018 two students of Shahid Ramijuddin Cantonment College were
killed when a speeding bus ploughed in to a bus stop on Airport road, Dhaka. The vehicles had
been racing another bus to pick up passengers when it drifted on the sidewalk, killing the tow
and injuring 12 others. After that journalists spoke with Shahjahan Khan who was Minister of
shipping and also executive president of Bangladesh Road Transport workers federation. On his
speech he said “a road crash has claimed 33 lives in India’s Maharashtra but do they talk about
it like the way we do?” with this kind of remark and smile were highly criticized by citizens and
triggered the protests in other areas of the country and also protesters started demanding his
apology. Students were then started a movement by claiming “safe road’’ all over in Bangladesh.
This protest is known as road safety protest which actually started from 29 th July to 8th August of
14
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/13/shahbag-protest-bangladesh-quader-mollah
15
https://www.thedailystar.net/city/news/bangladesh-quota-system-civil-service-reformation-not-abolishment-
1643761
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2018. Their goal was ensurement of safe roads, formulation and implementation of road-safety
laws, and punishment of drivers violating traffic laws. The students were seen to take up
enforcing traffic laws on their own, stopping drivers for license check. A student was saying to a
TV reporter on the news of Somoy Tv that-
“When I stopped a car asking him about his license, he told me that he was going to bring a
patient, when I told him that a conscious person would never take their private car to take a
patient then he said to me that he was an uber driver. Then you tell me, if it continues in this
way, then how our government is going to operate?
The protests were peaceful until 2nd August, when the police attempted to disperse
protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets and people who are believed to be members of a pro-
government youth league attacked protesters and journalists. In this study it has been found on a
television news that one of the students was saying to a TV reporter-
“This is a democratic country, do we have no right to raise our voice, do we have no freedom of
speech?”
Another student was seen to

share her thoughts about this
protest that “when
administration fails to fulfil its
responsibility, then student
must take the responsibilities,
because students are the future
of a country.
The government then

started to arrest several student
protesters and also a famous
photographer named Shahidul Alam for giving an interview about the protest to international
media. On the basis of their act, students then painted a Graffiti on the wall of Rokeya Hall,
which is the residential ladies hall of university of Dhaka in TSC, named “Bangladesh in
Remand (বাংলাদেশ রিমান্ডে) ”.
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Where this Graffiti represents the ongoing political situation, that people have no right to raise
their voice, no freedom of speech on the democratic country, and if they do such an act they will
be punished and will be taken to the remand cell as they took protesters. while talking with a
passerby, he was sharing his thought about that Graffiti by saying,
“I think this Graffiti is representing current situation as well. As it is drawn with a flag and a
remand cell light on top of it, then it obviously means that country is now under surveillance, so
that you cannot do anything against their will.” So clearly, for them, this Graffiti is indicating
the whole politial situation.
Figure 10. Helmet Bhai Graffiti after Safe Road protest
A few days
later on the same
place two Graffiti
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Figure 11. Graffiti protest at Abrar Murder at BUET

“Helmet Bhai” and “Shohomot Bhai” were drawn. The viewers have related the “Shohomot
Bhai” Graffiti with the flattery culture going on in the society. And they evaluated the Graffiti
“Helmet Bhai” as the oppressor group who works for that group which flatters. At the same time
another two Graffiti were found on the wall of Shamsunnahar Hall of University of Dhaka right
in front of Tareq-Mishuk Memorial Monument in TSC and Aziz Super Market which is situated
in Shahbag Chattar in Dhaka city, demanding punishment for rapists and also for freedom of
speech which were also made some hype. And last after the murder of BUET (Bangladesh
University of Engineering & Technology) student Abrar Fahad, the walls of Dhaka University
and BUET began to see some new Graffiti representing the students who were tortured and
murdered. The face of Abu Bakkar, Ehsan Rafique, Hafizur Molla and Abrar Fahad remind
about the incidents, oppression, torture that was going on in the name of student politics.
Bangladesh is a democratic country. There are mainly three political parties in Bangladesh-
Bangladesh National Party (BNP), Bangladesh Awami League and Jatiya party. Among them
Figure 12. Graffiti protest at Abrar Fahad murder in front of Titumir Hall, 56 | P a g e
BUET
Bangladesh Awami league is now ruling Bangladesh since 2008 till 2020. In this 12 year, the
ruling party has led Bangladesh through a massive GDP growth and strengthened Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s foreign relations with countries like US, Germany, UK, Netherlands, France etc.
Also ruling party has made considerable progress in achieving the Millennium Development
Goals (MDG). But beside many achievements by ruling party in Bangladesh, they are
encountering some massive problems like corruptions in law enforcement, in government jobs,
corruption in transport system, rape case, Climate change, political instability etc. in last 10 years
(till 2018) 7429 people has been victimized by different incident. Among them, 2714 victims
were women, 4574 victims were children, 2,157 victims were gang raped where 1102 victims
were women and 1055 victims were children. Again 752 victims were killed after being raped
16
where 417 victims were women and 335 victims were children. Again 178 women were raped
by law enforcement agencies where 39 Police, 2 DB Police, 2 RAB, 7 Army, 2 BGB were
alleged. 17 Also, corruptions in election were seen, transport system is seen rapidly. According to
the survey report of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) law enforcement agencies
were the most corrupt among the 18 departments and sectors in providing services households in
2017. Passport offices and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) were the most second
and third corrupt service-oriented entities. 18
16
http://odhikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Statistics_Rape_2001-2018-.pdf
17
http://odhikar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Statistics_Rape_RLEA_2001-2018.pdf
18
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/city/corruption-in-bangladesh-law-enforcement-agencies-most-corrupt-tib-
1626589
57 | P a g e
Then again student
movement from different places
made some political instability
last several years. Some of the
movements were for ensuring
safe road, reform quota which
made the government look like
they failed to take responsibility
of those instability. So, while
these unstable situations were
happening repeatedly,and Figure: 13. Subodh Graffiti after arresting its creator. Source: Dhaka
when people started to fear to Tribune
raise their voice on that time a
Graffiti called Subodh began to
pop out all over the city by
giving several messages. In
2017 some walls begun to
show some courage to speak up
by a gypsy young man named
‘Subodh’. What Graffitist
meant by that is, Graffiti was
the time wasn’t by his side and
so he was fleeing around. Figure 14. Subodh series in Dhaka. Source: The Daily Star
Also left his marks by pictures and writings on the walls of the city such as Subodh tui paliye ja,
Subodh tui paliye ja ekhon shomoy pokkhe na, Subodh tui paliye ja tor vagge kichu nei, Subodh
tui Paliye ja opekkha toke manay na, Subodh kobe hobe bhor, Subodh tui paliye ja vuleo fire
ashish na, or Subodh ekhon jele. That was the starting of revolutionary wall paintings Graffiti in
Bangladesh. At first it was painted on the walls of Dhanmondi, Agargao, and Mirpur in Dhaka.
Sometimes he can be seen running with a caged sun, sometimes locked up in the jail, sometimes
as a depressed falling man. Along with the paintings it was written that Subodh you run away,
time is not on your side. After few days Subodh Graffiti appeared again as a symbol of hope.
58 | P a g e
This time he was seen with a little girl, a rooster, and the caged sun. The rooster was seen
looking at the sun and crowing to its life to indicate that the dawn isn’t far away. This time a
logo called ‘HOBEKI?’ was used in it. After the publication of these wall paintings, it took away
the interest of many people. It got viral on social networks like Facebook. Many become curious
to know about Subodh and its artist or artists. To some of them these are protests of socio-
political instability in the country while some assumed that a group trying to give a special
message to the masses. After the creator of Subodh Graffiti caught up by police some Subodh
Graffiti again began to show up on the street. This time the message was depressing but they
wanted to aware people about the unfair situation. Like the Graffiti is asking Subodh kobe hobe
bhor? Or Subodh ekhon jele. That is, people are not allowed to talk freely, they are expecting a
fine morning when they can start to move freely.
On top of that, the students of Kolkata presidency and Jadavpur University were so inspired by
this Subodh Graffiti that they drew numbers of Graffiti in their campus. They represented the
Subodh Graffiti as the symbol of achieving their rights. On 20th of august 2017, Indian daily
newspaper ‘The Telegraph’ published an article of their magazine “Seven Days” by naming the
article “হবেকি?” (HOBEKI?).
In the continuation of
that, another Graffiti was
found on the north of Kakoli
footover bridge on the white
background wall. The
Graffiti was painted with a
depressed teenaged girl
59 | P a g e
holding the red green flag (the flag of Bangladesh). Along with this Graffiti, it was written that
“This is my Masterpiece”. This Graffiti was painted in the same way as Subodh series. but it
didn’t potray Subodh at this time. It was drawn by stencil. The walls of Dhaka began to fill up
with numbers of Graffiti, after this controversial Subodh Graffiti series. While discussing about
Subodh Graffiti some intellecators shared their thoughts about this. To Joy (fictional name),
“I think here Subodh is an imaginary boy who is fighting to save his good soul from this toxic
situation”.
What he meant by toxic situation is that ongoing political situation where people are bound to do
what state want them and raising voice against any of their act was/is illegal. However,
government has taken necessary steps to take down these Graffiti because to them these Graffiti
is for to turn people against government and to create an unstable situation in the country.
Graffiti is now gaining popularity specially to the students. Historically students and youth of
Bangladesh have been playing an important role in knitting the fabric of Bangladesh since the
anti-British movements of the late twentieth century. In the recent students’ movements of
Bangladesh, Graffiti gained lot of interest. Because these artworks are strong in political essence
and showcase the contextual political understanding of the protesters indicating that youth are no
less observant than those who are running the system from the top.
However, students are now following this trend in every movement in their own campus
as well in the country for a bigger purpose. Bangladesh has been witnessing university campus-
based students movements such as anti VC movement, protest against law enforcement body of
university campus, movement against faculty etc.
60 | P a g e
A section of
students and teachers
of Jahanginagar
University started anti
VC movement in
August, 2019
demanding hudicial
inquiry into the
reported involvement
of the vice-chancellor
Professor Dr. Farzana
Islam in corruption
and mismanagement Figure: 16. A Graffiti of Anti VC movement in JU
of the Tk.1445 crore campus development project. 19 Following these students held their
movements by painting roads as well as painting Graffiti indicating to their VC. Also, as a
symbol of the protest they held a concert in front it’s VC’s residence. They brought out a
procession equipped with musical instrument that marched towards the VC’s residence defying
ban on rallies and chanted slogans against the VC that includes- “our campus, our right; save the
campus, join the fight” and “do not, will not accept notice to vacant hall”. The move came hours
after Chatra Legue men assaulted the demonstrators who had kept VC Prof. Dr. Farzana Islam
detained to her residence, demanding her resignation. After the assault, which left 35, including
nine teachers and four journalists were found injured and Prof. Dr. Farzana came out under BCL
protection. Following an emergency meeting the same day, the university authorities asked the
students to vacate the dormitories by 5:30pm, but most of the hall residents stayed put. 20
19
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/dhaka/2019/09/22/resign-or-face-tougher-movement-ju-students-
tell-vc
20
https://www.thedailystar.net/country/news/ju-jahangirnagar-university-students-continue-protest-scroll-
painting-removal-vc-farzana-islam-1824784
61 | P a g e
On the other hand, another anti VC
movement has seen in Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman Science & Technology
University (BSMRSTU) in Gopalganj in
September, 2019. The demonstrating
students alleged that he was involved in
corruption in recruitment of some teachers
and employees. The VC Prof khondokar Md
Nasiruddin stepped down after student
protests on the campus since September 18
Figure:for his removal

17. Another from
Graffoto fromthe
Antipost. Meanwhile
VC movement in
BSMRSTU
students draw some graffiti to show their
prostration against VC. They drew Subodh
and many other Graffiti with the movement. 21
With Subodh Graffiti it was written there that
সুবোধ তু ই পালাবি কেন? আমরা আছি তোমার সাথে!
(Subodh, why would you run away? we all

are with you). Students here declared
solidarity with Subodh as Subodh represents
the goodness in people and also who is in
search of a time when people is going to have
their freedom.
Figure: 18. Subodh Graffiti in the wall of Achariya

Jagadishchandra Bose Academic building, BSMRSTU
Unlike other public universities,

Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST) is a public research university established
in 1986 based in Sylhet, Bangladesh. It has now 7 schools, 27 departments, 2 institutes and
centers. The location of SUST is a bit far from city. SUST is also well known for its cultural
activities as it has many cultural organizations and all of them are active in every event. The
21
https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/bsmrstu-vc-finally-steps-down-1807612
62 | P a g e
students can arrange any kind of cultural event with administrational permission. They can paint
the road, they can arrange concert, exhibitions etc. The tradition of their cultural activities were
going well until administration took their step to stop these activities. For some students, the
university administration stopped giving permissions what organizations needed for their event.
It took years to settle down and face this problem for the students. At that time any kind of
cultural event launching wasn’t easy as earlier times. They had to seek permission many times
but most of the time they got rejected. As this type of unwelcoming act by the proctorial body
went on, the situation got worse. For students, they started to claim that this kind of act by the
proctorial body is ruining the campus culture as well. So, they decided to do such a thing to give
them a message that the students can do any kind of cultural event if they want without the help
of administration. On the basis of this act Jot (সম্মিলিত সাংস্কৃ তিক জোট) arranged a small program
with the collaboration of all the cultural organization that are linked to Jot. In SUST Jot is form
of organization where all the organization are member and they work or participate in any
activities that are required for the better sake of the campus where they act as one form. That is
why, they named the event পৌষাণল (Poushanol) as it was Bengali month পৌষ (Poush) back then.
Poushanol refers to the fire of winter. Where they wanted to compare the ongoing situation to
fire of winter. They held an acoustic night in that same night. But the next day the student
noticed that the whole wall where the Poushanol Graffiti was, colored by pink color. Students
then couldn’t do anything about it but to see. Students claimed then after that this kind of strict
ruling act by the administration went to its worst level.
After 2 years have passed, campus started to see new rules and regulations like no tong
cannot be open till 9 or 10pm it should be closed down within 8. Girls hostel should be closed at
8, where library closes at 8 also, any kind of road paint was not permitted any more. Many other
things had led their tolerance level into zero. So, they started to show their stands against
administration by calling on a protest. They continued this protest by singing patriotic songs
along with other song at Gol Chattar of SUST. Later they decided to paint road with a name
শাবিপ্রবি in it and gave an ultimatum with 6 points movement which were for short term along
with 10 points of long-term movement. After around 10/12 days of movement the university
authority came to the point where they agreed with their proclamation and assured others will do
63 | P a g e
Figure: 19. Orbachinder Poushanol Graffiti in SUST Campus

as well as they are
long term and need
time. To celebrate
this victory the
students arranged a
cultural event which
they named after
Poushanol and this
time they added
Orbachin to it as
they claim
themselves as
Orbachin to indicate
youthship. They again did the same অর্বাচীনের পৌষাণল Graffti in the same place on the same wall
by same Graffiti artist who only came to Sylhet for this. This time they added অর্বাচীন as the
authority addressed them অর্বাচীন for being arrogant. Many seniors from home and abroad
donated and declared their heartiest solidarity with the students.
After that protest, শাবিপ্রবিতে
গ্রাফিতি নিষিদ্ধ (Graffiti is not allowed in
SUST), another wall writing Graffiti

has seen in the walls of academic
buildings which indicates that it was
of not allowed in the campus at that
time with road panting. For the
general students Poushanol Graffiti is
to remind the moment they were
suppressed by the authority under Figure: 20. A Satire Graffiti in SUST
any kind of activity and they
64 | P a g e
wanted to show their stand point and how their activities and acts were being stooped by the
authority.
When authority or the broader structure fail to take these responsibility or do not act as
they should act then it become mess. when surveillance is intensified, dessenting voices used
different art forms to express themselves.. Graffiti is one among many such art form. and that is
why whenever movements or protest is held the students draw Graffiti with it to express their
immense distraction.
65 | P a g e
Chapter Six
6.1 Conclusion
66 | P a g e
6.1 Conclusion
In the introductory section I kept some questions by collecting empirical data from the literature
and evidences. This chapter is the concluding part of this research. In this chapter I will discuss
all my findings in a short. I have three objectives with one broad objective in my introductory
chapter.
Graffiti is considered to be one kind of street art though theirs is still difference between
them. Here Graffiti refers to a visual communication which is writing or drawing made on a wall
or on the surface usually as a form of artistic expression without any kind of permission and
within public view. Although this kind of street art or Graffiti have now a strong standpoint to
show resistance, rebellious position. So, this art has become a subject matter to seek such
contexts underlying with it. In earlier literature, writers have tried to find out the connection
between Graffiti and street art, whether it is consider to be an aesthetic work or it is just an art,
whether it is consider to be a criminal activity or it’s just a painting or drawing on the wall like
others. Banksy a famous Graffiti artist who’s Graffiti always express the social and political
resistance by creating kind of humor.
Subodh Graffiti is seen as Bangladeshi Banksy as this Graffiti have such similarity with
Banksy art work. Also, On the other hand Bangladesh in Remand also making the message of
injustice going all over in Bangladesh. Although Poushanol was a university campus-based
Graffiti but it has its significance too. These three Graffiti somehow related in the one place in
showing resistance. Whether it is against socio-cultural or political circumstance. In some
country it is consider to be “crime” whereas in Bangladesh there is still no law has been made
regarding drawing or making Graffiti. So, Graffitist still doing this artwork without being treated
as criminal. So it would be different if the law has made, the scenario in Bangladesh in that case
would turn into a new scenario where another kind of layer can be seen but that is not possible
until it is not researched.
After analyzing the findings with some theoretical positions, it is very clear that when
surveillance is intensified, dissenting voices used different art forms to express themselves.
Graffiti is one among many such art forms. To some extent, this artwork comes in rescue and
presents an opportunity to express opinions on public places without the fear of being targeted.
67 | P a g e
As this Graffiti art is a form of visual representation, and there are no significant study
have conducted in this particular area, and specially in Anthropology. That is why, it is very
important for me to work on this field. This type of is under research in this academia in
Bangladesh. Visual anthropology has again flourished with new dimensions in this field. New
dimensions create new knowledge and researchers should find the gap in the existing literature.
In future there has more opportunity to work on that topic and also it is more possible to analyze
this ground and its image, language more critically. This research can also be understood by
analyzing urban security or it can be expanded for further research, if I could get the interviews
of my respondents then I found more evidences to relate the issue with a broader sense. Shortage
of time is another constraint of my research. If I get more time, then I can add more data and
analyzed more findings. Moreover, this research will be an addition to the broader understanding
of resistance theory as well as anthropology of state. This research might explore diverse way of
expressing resistance against of a subjugation of political authority which is widely absent in
anthropological literature. I did my research in a short scale as I had very short time to conduct
such research. In addition, I also tried to bring a critical engagement through my work despite
time limitation.
68 | P a g e
References
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Website Links
https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/news/185051/Graffiti-asking-questions-about-fear-
injustice?
fbclid=IwAR2I7MccoG0mTaSd_z8E2HJVByz0_PA0ZNTeiDMMjrq7SSphpnvlRiFM8NU
https://www.telegraphindia.com/7-days/hobeki/cid/1315826
https://www.thedailystar.net/city/news/bangladesh-quota-system-civil-service-reformation-not-
abolishment-1643761
https://www.myartbroker.com/blog/street-art-as-a-philosophy/
http://www.newagebd.net/article/30624/subodh-escaping-resistance-or-resisting-through-escape
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https://scroll.in/magazine/840426/the-banksy-of-bangladesh-is-asking-someone-called-subodh-
to-run-away-but-why
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/dhaka/2017/07/10/subodh-dhaka-graffiti
http://nymag.com/guides/summer/17406/
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https://sampleface.co.uk/graffiti-as-mass-communication/?
fbclid=IwAR286M4OPCYQ9s5nP2TdCpuSFdbzdREf7e2phiHtJmhnMvgY0IdNjl1mGAM
https://www.graffiti.org/faq/graf.def.html
72 | P a g e
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/13/shahbag-protest-bangladesh-quader-mollah
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abolishment-1643761
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most-corrupt-tib-1626589
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ju-students-tell-vc
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scroll-painting-removal-vc-farzana-islam-1824784
https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/bsmrstu-vc-finally-steps-down-1807612
73 | P a g e
74 | P a g e

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Graffiti as a Form of Resistance: An Anthropological Engagement

to This New Trend in Bangladesh

1.1 Statement of the Problem

1.4 Rationale of the study

1.5 Literature Review

Chapter Two: Methods and Study Area

2.3 Critical Discourse Analysis

Chapter Three: Graffiti as an Anthropological Site

3.1 Graffiti in Local context

3.2 Street Art and Graffiti

3.3 Graffiti in the Urban Space

3.4 Graffiti and Urban Crime

4.1 Graffiti as a Medium of Communication

4.2 Graffiti: Politics of Representation

4.3 Graffiti and Intellectuals

4.4 Graffiti in Bangladesh and Cultural Understanding of Youth

Chapter Five: Graffiti as a form of Resistance

5.1 Student Movement and Graffiti

5.2 National Politics and Resistance through Graffiti

5.3 Graffiti and Campus

Chapter Six: Conclusion

Date-02.02.2020 Zakia Ahsan

Dept. of Anthropology, SUST

1.2 Statement of the Problem

1.4 Theoretical Framework

1.5 Rationale of the study

1.6 Literature Review

1.2 Statement of the Problem

1.4 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

Foucaultian approach to understand the politics of representation in relation to the

1.5 Rationale of the Study

Bangladesh in Remand (বাংলাদেশ রিমান্ডে) is another controversial graffiti in Bangladesh which is

1.6 Literature Review and Research Gap

However, there is no substantial research in Bangladesh that deals with Graffiti in

Methods and Study Area

2.3 Critical Discourse Analysis

2.3 Critical Discourse Analysis

- How is the text positioned or positioning?

1. The object of analysis ( including verbal, visual and visual texts)

- Text analysis (description)

Graffiti as an Anthropological Site

3.1 Graffiti and its History in Global Context

3.2 Graffiti in Local Context

3.3 Street Art and Graffiti

3.4 Graffiti in the Urban Space

In Anthropology, whenever we start a study on a topic in a specific society, we analyze

3.1 The Graffiti and Its History in Global Context

Renaissance artists i.e. Pinturicchio, Michelengelo, Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi

Figure: 1. Graffiti in early years

3.2 Graffiti in Local Context

রিমান্ডে, সহমত ভাই, uff.

In anthropology as a symbolic medium, space, landscape and place can be seen as

3.5 Graffiti and Urban Crime

“It’s a propaganda, a strategy to elicit fright among the mass people.” 10

Interpreting them as works of an anarchist element trying to destabilize the country by

Graffiti: Communication and Representation

4.1 Graffiti as a Medium of Communication

4.2 Graffiti: Politics of Representation

4.3 Graffiti and Intellectuals

4.5 Graffiti in Bangladesh and Cultural Understanding of Youth

Graffiti: Communication and Representation

However Graffiti has spread beyond socio-economic classification. It is a form of

Figure 7: Banksy Graffiti on the Separation Wall in Israel.