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Cited by 34South Asian Studies and DiasporaSocial and Economic Development in IndiaSouth Asian Studies and Conflicts

Manual scavenging: Issues of caste, culture and violence.

Shahid, Mohd.·2015·Social Change
DOI 10.1177/0049085715574187
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Abstract

Manual scavenging—a despised vocation of manually sweeping household dry latrines and carrying human excreta—still exists in many parts of India. This inhuman practice has traditionally been enforced on a specific group of people labelled manual scavengers. More painful is the audacity and the deliberate dereliction of duty by the state machinery that blatantly denies the existence of inhuman practice of manual scavenging. The position of the Jajmans (patrons), rather comfortable with the fact that fellow human beings clean their excreta, is not very different. While the worst are the cultural constructions that legitimise this inhuman practice by changing what Galtung called moral colour from red/wrong to green/right or at least to yellow/acceptable. In the rural Indian social matrix, the task of manual scavenging has been mostly enforced on women. This article aims to map how the practice of manual scavenging sustains on the hegemonic relationship built around gender, caste and culture. Johan Galtung’s typology of violence—direct, structural and cultural—is used to demystify the issues of violence in manual scavenging.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0049085715574187

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7 of 7 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Women and girls feared, risked, or experienced varied harms related to their water and sanitation circumstances and activities, with water fetching related harms in particular resulting in serious and long-term consequences, including general and localized pain, headaches and head injury, and injury from falls, trucks, and/or car accidents.

    “Women and girls feared, risked, or experienced, varied harms related to their water and sanitation circumstances and activities (_((((xxx))))_)[62, 63, 78, 90, 101, 135, 141, 143, 144, 158, 168-170, 172-174, 177-179, 181, 182, 184, 186, 187, 189-191, 197-199, 201, 214, 226, 231, 244, 257, 258, 261, 276, 277, 296].Many noted exacerbated”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [141]

  • Women working as manual scavengers in India reported limited control over taking breaks, and not being able to take time off if ill or to participate in festivals, weddings, or other celebrations.

    “Women working as manual scavengers in India reported limited control over taking breaks, and not being able to take time off if ill or to participate in festivals, weddings, or other celebrations [138,141].”

    From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [141]

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Authors
Shahid, M.
Affiliations
Maulana Azad National Urdu University (IN)
Corresponding author
Shahid, Mohd.
ORCID
Shahid, Mohd.
Venue
Social Change
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2015-06
Volume
45
Issue
2
Pages
242-255
ISSN
  • 0049-0857 (ISSN-L)
  • 0976-3538
DOI
10.1177/0049085715574187
OpenAlex
W1792425267
Cited by
34
References
8
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2017: 1
FWCI
2.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Social Change (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › South Asian Studies and Diaspora
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Economic Development in India
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › South Asian Studies and Conflicts
Keywords
manual scavenging, caste, gender, cultural violence, structural violence, direct violence, Johan Galtung, state complicity, sanitation, rural India, human excreta

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