Paper short abstract:

The paper uses a postcolonial and intersectional approach to deepen our understanding of the histories and contemporary realities of men and women involved in hazardous sanitation labour in small towns and cities in Bangladesh, and across South Asia.

Paper long abstract:

The paper uses a postcolonial and intersectional approach to deepen our understanding of the histories and contemporary realities of men and women involved in hazardous sanitation labour - the manual handling of human waste in pit latrines, septic tanks, sewers and drains - in small towns and cities. Whilst extensive literature focuses on manual scavenging in India, few studies have examined the caste and colonial origins and legacies of this work in Bangladesh, including forced or coerced labour migration by British colonisers (using alcohol as payment). The paper addresses this critical knowledge gap via interweaving detailed accounts on identity and everyday working realities from those involved in nongra kaj (dirty work), with existing literature on sanitary infrastructure and public health in the postcolonial city, and the reproduction of caste as a form of social, economic and political power across South Asia. I highlight different ways in which the labouring bodies of men and women are continuously (mis)used as infrastructure in contemporary sanitation systems despite the introduction of technical 'innovations', how dirty work has changed over time, and how workers - especially a new generation of educated youth - navigate these changes in contexts of systemic discrimination based on caste, gender, religion, class, age, occupation and place of residence. In doing so, I set out a broader conceptual, methodological and empirical agenda that calls for other urban scholars to examine the histories and contemporary realities of 'dirty work' in a world where it continues to be undervalued, unseen and deadly.