{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-post-query-tsx","path":"/blog-post/how-many-of-us-are-willing-to-clean-our-own-toilets/","result":{"pageContext":{"post":{"slug":"/blog-post/how-many-of-us-are-willing-to-clean-our-own-toilets/","title":"How many of us are willing to clean our own toilets?","date":"Oct 22, 2014","timeToRead":2,"description":"","body":"function _extends() { _extends = Object.assign || function (target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i]; for (var key in source) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(source, key)) { target[key] = source[key]; } } } return target; }; return _extends.apply(this, arguments); }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutProperties(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded); var key, i; if (Object.getOwnPropertySymbols) { var sourceSymbolKeys = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source); for (i = 0; i < sourceSymbolKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceSymbolKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; if (!Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable.call(source, key)) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } } return target; }\n\nfunction _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = {}; var sourceKeys = Object.keys(source); var key, i; for (i = 0; i < sourceKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } return target; }\n\n/* @jsxRuntime classic */\n\n/* @jsx mdx */\nvar _frontmatter = {\n  \"title\": \"How many of us are willing to clean our own toilets?\",\n  \"date\": \"2014-10-22\",\n  \"template\": \"post\",\n  \"slug\": \"how-many-of-us-are-willing-to-clean-our-own-toilets\",\n  \"postedLink\": \"https://riceinstitute.org/blog/how-many-of-us-are-willing-to-clean-our-own-toilets/\",\n  \"old-tags\": [\"caste\", \"purity-pollution\"],\n  \"description\": \"\",\n  \"tags\": \"Blog Post\",\n  \"banner\": \"\"\n};\nvar layoutProps = {\n  _frontmatter: _frontmatter\n};\nvar MDXLayout = \"wrapper\";\nreturn function MDXContent(_ref) {\n  var components = _ref.components,\n      props = _objectWithoutProperties(_ref, [\"components\"]);\n\n  return mdx(MDXLayout, _extends({}, layoutProps, props, {\n    components: components,\n    mdxType: \"MDXLayout\"\n  }), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Sagarika Ghosh\\u2019s Times of India blog post this week echoes some of r.i.c.e.\\u2019s research findings and addresses a very deep reason why India\\u2019s sanitation challenge continues to be so intractable: purity, pollution, and caste discrimination.\\xA0 You can read the full post\\xA0\", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bloody-mary/how-many-of-us-are-willing-to-clean-our-own-toilets/\",\n    \"target\": \"_blank\",\n    \"rel\": \"noopener noreferrer\"\n  }, \"here\"), \", but here are some excerpts:\"), mdx(\"blockquote\", null, mdx(\"p\", {\n    parentName: \"blockquote\"\n  }, \"\\u201CPurity\\u201D and \\u201Cpollution\\u201D, said Louis Dumont in his seminal work Homo Hierarchus, are a principal feature of India\", \"`\", \"s caste system, where the higher you go the \\u201Ccleaner\\u201D or \\u201Cpurer\\u201D you become. The lower you are in the caste hierarchy the dirtier or more \\u201Cimpure\\u201D you are.\")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Ghosh goes on to say:\"), mdx(\"blockquote\", null, mdx(\"p\", {\n    parentName: \"blockquote\"\n  }, \"Precisely because cleaning is the duty of the social pariah, cleanliness has become a pariah to our daily lives too. Toilets are \\u201Cdirty\\u201D, to be cleaned by those who do \\u201Cdirty work\\u201D, upper castes are not programmed to clean their own waste because the socially inferior do it for them. We not only need a jhadoo for the street, we need a jhadoo in our minds as well.\")), mdx(\"p\", null, \"From our qualitative study, this same sentiment came through in many of the interviews we conducted.\\xA0 People feel intense disgust towards the idea of dealing with feces and cleaning latrine pits because feces are considered \\u201Cunclean\\u201D and \\u201Cimpure.\\u201D\\xA0 By extension, those responsible for cleaning feces are considered polluting.\\xA0 Given enduring caste hierarchies, Dalits, who are called upon to handle human waste, are considered polluted because of this work, and people in higher castes consider contact with them to be polluting as well.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"What does this all have to do with latrines and latrine use?\\xA0 Simple latrines, common in most developing countries, are difficult to find in India because they are considered unacceptable, in part because latrine use means accumulating pollution and impurity near the home.\\xA0 Pit emptying in India presents a deeper challenge than in most societies because of these concepts of purity and pollution and because of caste and untouchability.\\xA0 Deeply internalized casteism means that most people are unwilling to empty their own or others\\u2019 latrine pits.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"One way that people try to get around the problem of pit emptying is by constructing enormous pits, which are essentially underground rooms to collect feces.\\xA0 Large pits allow people to feel that they\\u2019ll almost never have to deal with the feces, escaping the possibility of pollution.\\xA0 These unnecessarily large pits appear to be the social norm in rural areas, making it socially unacceptable for the less wealthy to build and use simpler latrines that they can actually afford.\\xA0 Instead, they continue to defecate in the open.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The solution is not for everyone to make latrines with larger and larger pits.\\xA0 As Ms. Ghosh points out, what is needed is a change in mindsets, to transform what is culturally acceptable and make the use of simple latrines the aspiration of every individual in rural India.\"));\n}\n;\nMDXContent.isMDXComponent = true;","tags":[{"name":"Blog Post","slug":"blog-post"}],"banner":null}}},"staticQueryHashes":["318001574","3787687951","3787687951"]}