Hazardous Sanitation Labour: Connecting the Past, Present and Future of Manual Scavenging in Bangladesh

危险卫生劳动：连接孟加拉国人工清理的过去、现在和未来

• 批准号: ES/W002272/1
• 负责人: Sally Cawood
• 金额: $ 30.56万
• 依托单位: Lancaster University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FW002272%2F1
• 关键词: Hazardous; Sanitation; Labour; Connecting; Past

Though declared illegal, manual scavenging persists in Bangladesh and across South Asia as a form of 'caste-based slavery' (IDSN 2014) that has simply 'adapted with modernisation' (Centre for Equity Studies 2019). In addition to low, irregular pay and little to no social protection, the men, women and children involved in this work risk frequent injury (gashes/cuts, breakages, back and neck problems), illness (vision and hearing impairments, skin, respiratory, parasitic and vector-borne diseases) and death (World Bank 2019). Since 2014, an estimated 156 people have died in septic tanks in Bangladesh (BILs 2019), while in India one person dies every five days emptying septic tanks and sewers (Government of India 2020). Whilst the Sustainable Development Goals call for decent work and the protection of public and environmental health for all, manual scavengers (whose global numbers are unknown) remain a vital, overlooked workforce in urban systems. Stigma and discrimination means that they remain largely unseen and unheard by planners, politicians and wider society (Singh 2014; Prasad and Ray 2019). In Bangladesh, a country where 'dirty work' (nongra kaj in Bengali) persists yet is poorly understood, manual scavenging is undertaken predominantly by self-defined Harijans ('children of God'), low-caste, religious and ethnic minorities living in dense segregated colonies, a legacy of British colonial rule (1858-1947), labour migration and subjugation (Sultana and Subedi 2016). Whilst mechanisation of the sanitation sector in Bangladesh seeks to eliminate manual scavenging, in reality, those involved in 'dirty work' are often unable to benefit from shifting employment arrangements (Zaqout et al 2020; Cawood et al 2021). This project, the first of its kind, places the spotlight firmly onto this neglected urban workforce, to highlight potential pathways to improved or alternative work. In doing so, the project makes a significant and original contribution to knowledge, building conceptual, methodological, empirical and impact-related innovation into its very design. Conceptually, the project draws together disparate literature and expertise from urban studies, development, geography, history and public health engineering, to connect the past, present and future of manual scavenging in Bangladesh by examining five key, understudied themes - identity (age, gender, caste, ethnicity and religion), migration, place of residence, techno-legal change and socio-economic mobility - situated within broader understandings of colonialism and the reproduction of caste. Methodologically, the project utilises a case study approach with a mixed qualitative toolkit, including secondary, archival research and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) across Bangladesh, India and Pakistan - countries where manual scavenging remains a caste-based occupation, and where British colonial rule (1858-1947) had potentially significant implications for the administration and legacy of 'dirty work'. Bangladesh is used as an 'illustrative case' (Flyvbjerg 2006) for Participatory Action Research (PAR) involving oral life histories with portraits, focus groups and impact activities with Harijan youth and community leaders to address a dearth of empirical knowledge on this topic. In deploying these methods, the project also advances tools and techniques on working with rather than on marginalised groups in urban systems. Innovations in conceptual framing, methods (combining archival research with PAR) and impact, including the establishment of internal and external 'learning and sharing' advisory groups, emerge from my unique position and positionality as a social scientist who has worked with and within interdisciplinary teams, and strong, established networks with policy advocates, activists and practitioners. These configurations place me in an excellent position to coordinate world-leading academic research with a direct line to policy and practice.

虽然被宣布为非法，但在孟加拉国和整个南亚，手工拾荒仍然存在，作为一种形式的“种姓奴役”(IDSN 2014)，只是“适应了现代化”(2019年公平研究中心)。除了工资低、不定期、几乎没有社会保护外，参与这项工作的男子、妇女和儿童还面临频繁受伤(割伤/割伤、骨折、背部和颈部问题)、疾病(视力和听力障碍、皮肤、呼吸系统疾病、寄生虫和病媒传播疾病)和死亡的风险(世界银行，2019年)。自2014年以来，孟加拉国估计有156人死于化粪池(BILS 2019年)，而在印度，每五天就有一人在倒空化粪池和下水道时死亡(印度政府2020)。虽然可持续发展目标呼吁为所有人提供体面的工作并保护公共和环境健康，但手工拾荒者(其全球人数尚不清楚)在城市系统中仍然是一支重要的、被忽视的劳动力。耻辱和歧视意味着它们在很大程度上仍然是规划者、政治家和更广泛的社会看不见和听不到的(Singh 2014；Prasad和Ray 2019)。在孟加拉国，“肮脏的工作”(孟加拉语中的non gra Kaj)仍然存在，但人们对此知之甚少，手工拾荒主要由自定义的哈里扬人(“上帝的孩子”)、低种姓、宗教和少数民族生活在密集的隔离殖民地中进行，这是英国殖民统治(1858-1947)、劳动力迁移和征服(苏丹纳和苏贝迪2016)的遗留问题。虽然孟加拉国环卫部门的机械化试图消除手工清扫，但在现实中，那些从事“肮脏工作”的人往往无法从转变的就业安排中受益(Zaqout等人2020年；Cawood等人2021年)。这个项目是此类项目中的第一个，将聚光灯牢牢地放在被忽视的城市劳动力身上，以突出改善或替代工作的潜在途径。通过这样做，该项目对知识做出了重大和原创的贡献，将概念性、方法性、经验性和与影响相关的创新融入到其设计中。从概念上讲，该项目汇集了来自城市研究、发展、地理、历史和公共卫生工程的不同文献和专门知识，通过审查五个未被研究的关键主题--身份(年龄、性别、种姓、族裔和宗教)、移民、居住地、技术法律变化和社会经济流动性--在更广泛的理解殖民主义和种姓再生产的范围内，将孟加拉国人工拾荒的过去、现在和未来联系起来。在方法上，该项目使用了案例研究方法和混合的定性工具包，包括孟加拉国、印度和巴基斯坦的二次、档案研究和关键线人访谈(KIIS)--在这些国家，手工拾荒仍然是一种基于种姓的职业，英国殖民统治(1858-1947)可能对“肮脏工作”的管理和遗产产生重大影响。孟加拉国被用作参与性行动研究(PAR)的“例证”(FlyvbJerg，2006年)，涉及口述生活史，包括肖像、重点小组以及与哈里扬青年和社区领袖开展的影响活动，以解决在这一主题上缺乏经验性知识的问题。在部署这些方法时，该项目还改进了与城市系统中被边缘化群体合作的工具和技术。在概念框架、方法(将档案研究与PAR相结合)和影响方面的创新，包括建立内部和外部‘学习和分享’咨询小组，源于我作为一名社会科学家的独特地位和地位，我曾与跨学科团队合作并在其中工作，并与政策倡导者、活动家和实践者建立了强大的、已建立的网络。这些配置使我处于一个极好的位置，可以协调世界领先的学术研究与政策和实践的直接联系。