The Promise of Gender Progress
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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO Life in the Wastelands: Work, Infrastructures, and Value in Urban Pakistan A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Waqas H. Butt Committee in charge: Professor Joseph D. Hankins, Chair Professor Steven M. Parish, Co-Chair Professor Lilly Irani Professor David Pedersen Professor Joel Robbins Professor Kamala Visweswaran Professor Kalindi Vora 2018 Copyright Waqas H. Butt, 2018 All rights reserved. The Dissertation of Waqas H. Butt is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Co-chair ____________________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California San Diego 2018 iii DEDICATION To Ammi and Pop iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ............................................................................................................................ iii Dedication ................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... v List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures and Tables .......................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... viii Vita ............................................................................................................................................ xiii Abstract of the Dissertation ....................................................................................................... xiv Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Governing Waste in Colonial Lahore ................................................................... 34 Chapter Two: Infrastructures of Development ........................................................................... 72 Chapter Three: Revaluing Waste Work .................................................................................... 121 Chapter Four: Marketizing Waste, Circulating Value .............................................................. 167 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 210 References ................................................................................................................................. 229 v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CDGL City District Government of Lahore GoP Government of Punjab LIT Lahore Improvement Trust LDA Lahore Development Authority LMC Lahore Municipal Committee LUDP Lahore Urban Development Project MCL Metropolitan Corporation of Lhore SWM Solid Waste Management WASA Water and Sanitation Agency vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1: Plans for Working Class Flats in Misri Shah area of Lahore..................................... 55 Figure 2: a) Sullage being discharged b) Man and woman with cattle inside home ................. 61 Figure 3: Waste workers from informal sector depositing waste into compactor ..................... 74 Table 1: Pricing of Contract for Waste Disposal Services ...................................................... 133 Figure 4: Map showing the tracked movements of a compactor ............................................. 150 Figure 5: Leaflet instructing residents to place trash bags outside of home at 7 am ............... 154 Figure 6: Inside of jhuggī with accumulated plastics .............................................................. 180 Figure 7: Shavings of different types of metals ....................................................................... 193 Figure 8: Unsorted plastic in warehouse near settlements of jhuggīān ................................... 199 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I share this dissertation with family, friends, colleauges, and interlocuctors spread across many places. I first thank everyone in Lahore and elsewhere in Pakistan that found a place for me in their lives, however temporarily, and made themselves available to me. I can only hope I do some justice to the lives and experiences of those sanitation and waste workers I mention with pseudonyms throughout the dissertation. There were many others who I encountered throughout my fieldwork and whose insights, explicit or implicit, have shaped my thinking about issues taken up in the dissertation. Numerous individuals, many of whom I mention in these chapters and others I have not, need to be thanked. I appreciate the staff at the Solid Waste Management Department and the Lahore Waste Management Company, especially Sohaib Anwar Malik, that have been nothing but forthcoming, generous, and honest. The same goes for numerous journalists, lawyers, activists, architects, bureaucrats, and urban planners who opened their hearts and offices to me. Rafay Alam, in particular, has always been gracious with his time. Discussions at his home about Lahore’s development and environment over the years have been invaluable. Many friends and colleagues have provided me support over the years. Friends at universities in Lahore have provided me intellectual sustenance that kept me on track: Nida Kirmani, Amen Jaffer, Ali Raza, Bilal Tanveer, Imdad Hussain, and Ali Khan. Repeated discussions with Rabia Nadir over the years have continually provided me clarity about Lahore’s changing demographics and built environment. In Lahore during fieldwork and after in the United States, conversations with Sardar Hussain and Abdul Aijaz have always made me return to literature within the anthropological project. Overlapping with Abbas Jaffer and Elizabeth Bolton on a grant from the American Institute of Pakistan Studies was an opportunity viii to build friendhips, and conversations with Muntasir Sattar helped me navigate the murky waters of research in Lahore. A chance meeting in the Punjab Archive has developed into a lasting friendship, though one mediated by WhatsApp, with Kasim Trimezy, whose humorous nature has always brought a smile to my face. The friendship of Ammar Ali Jan, Tabitha Spence, Ateeb Ahmed, Zahid Ali, Aimen Bucha, Umair Rasheed, Sara Kazmi, and Hashim Bin Rashid has reminded me what a spirited fight for justice demands of us. Also, Sher Ali and Sarah Eleazar have become an unexpected family for me over the years: unwavering in their support and criticism. My family in Lahore and Islamabad have all given me a home to be part of in Pakistan: Diddi Baji, Tayammi, Moti Bhai, Fareeha Bhabhi, Hafeez Chacha, Aliya Chachi, Saad, Farzana Chachi, Nanno, Imtiaz Mamoo, and numerous others always made sure I was safe, healthy, and wellfed. My Phupho (father’s sister) passed away when I returned to Lahore at the end of 2018. During our final conversations, I saw her confront the breast cancer that returned after three decades. She did so with a strength that I had only heard of, and I hope to bring a fraction of that strength to my own life. I thank Joseph Hankins for his intellectual rigor and personal warmth. We started our careers at UCSD in the same year, and I remember our first meeting at the New Directions reading group where I was taken aback by his kindness, humility, and acumen. I am grateful for having an advisor whose intellect is only matched by his level of empathy. His work on labor, stigma, and liberalism have shaped my own intellectual growth. Steven Parish has been my advisor since entering UCSD and has always provided me support that has allowed me to explore my own interests. Because of him, graduate school has been a place for personal growth and intellectual inquiry. I thank him for introducing me to ix materials on caste hierarchy and South Asia, which have certainly left their mark on my own intellectual interests. Throughout my time at UCSD, David Pedersen has constantly pushed me and others to think about the relationship between Anthropology and History, historicize any concepts we encounter within the context of specific places and times, and not limit our horizons to discipline as they exist. He has shown us the value of maintaining fidelity to times, places, and peoples that we work with, rather than the conservative and static nature of academic disciplines and the scholarship that is expected of them. Joel Robbins had an intellectual presence at UCSD in which I found solace and thrived. His classes taught me the power of intellectual rigor and styles of argumentation, and not many others match his handle on intellectual work within Anthropology and other disciplines. He has also provided professional guidance that will remain with me throughout my career. I thank Lilly Irani for being an outstanding