IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v10y2021i6p187-d560372.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“I Will Obey Whatever Orders Will Be Given to Me …”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of an Affidavit from a Slum Upgradation and Rehabilitation Project in Islamabad, Pakistan

Author

Listed:
  • Arslan Waheed

    (Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, D-53113 Bonn, Germany)

Abstract

Instead of criminalizing slums, the global discourse on slums and urban poor is changing towards integration, rehabilitation, and internationalizing cities. As pleasant as it may look, it is important to critically reflect and evaluate the policies of upgradation and rehabilitation, especially in the global south. Is the change from criminalization to rehabilitation and integration true to its spirit or is it just another policy gimmick? This article uses critical discourse analysis to analyze an affidavit produced in an official report on the upgradation and rehabilitation of katchi abadis (slums) in Islamabad. The report describes the affidavit as the most important part of the process through which the urban poor become eligible for applying to the intended benefits of the development interventions, that is, the legalization of their housing. The affidavit is to be reproduced by the urban poor on a notarized stamped paper to be attested to by a magistrate of the first class (a Civil Judge). The discursive analysis of the affidavit shows that the text attempts to naturalize inequalities, criminalization, and essentialization of the urban poor. Further, having constructed their deviant status, the text shows that the urban poor must surrender some of their rights to access their right to housing in Islamabad.

Suggested Citation

  • Arslan Waheed, 2021. "“I Will Obey Whatever Orders Will Be Given to Me …”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of an Affidavit from a Slum Upgradation and Rehabilitation Project in Islamabad, Pakistan," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-12, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:6:p:187-:d:560372
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/6/187/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/6/187/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ravallion, Martin, 2002. "On the urbanization of poverty," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 435-442, August.
    2. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen & Prem Sangraula, 2007. "New Evidence on the Urbanization of Global Poverty," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 33(4), pages 667-701, December.
    3. Geof Wood, 1985. "The Politics of Development Policy Labelling," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 347-373, July.
    4. Bernard Schaffer, 1985. "Policy Makers Have Their Needs Too: Irish Itinerants and the Culture of Poverty," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 375-408, July.
    5. Harvey, David, 2007. "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199283279.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Maurice Mutisya & Moses W. Ngware & Caroline W. Kabiru & Ngianga-bakwin Kandala, 2016. "The effect of education on household food security in two informal urban settlements in Kenya: a longitudinal analysis," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(4), pages 743-756, August.
    2. Luc Christiaensen & Joachim Weerdt & Yasuyuki Todo, 2013. "Urbanization and poverty reduction: the role of rural diversification and secondary towns," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(4-5), pages 435-447, July.
    3. De Weerdt,Joachim & Christiaensen,Luc & Kanbur,Ravi, 2021. "When Distance Drives Destination, Towns Can Stimulate Development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9622, The World Bank.
    4. Narayanamoorthy, A. & Hanjra, Munir A., 2010. "What Contributes to Disparity in Rural-Urban Poverty in Tamil Nadu?: A District Level Analysis," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 65(2), pages 1-17.
    5. Massimiliano Calì & Carlo Menon, 2013. "Does Urbanization Affect Rural Poverty? Evidence from Indian Districts," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 27(2), pages 171-201.
    6. Jorge Martínez Vázquez & Panupong Panudulkitti & Andrey Timofeev, 2014. "Urbanización y nivel de pobreza," Revista de Estudios Regionales, Universidades Públicas de Andalucía, vol. 2, pages 19-46.
    7. Obaco, Moisés & Pontarollo, Nicola & Mendieta Muñoz, Rodrigo & Díaz-Sánchez, Juan Pablo, 2022. "On the association between housing deprivation and urban size: Evidence from South Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    8. Mahumane, Gilberto & Mulder, Peter, 2022. "Urbanization of energy poverty? The case of Mozambique," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    9. Imai, Katsushi S. & Gaiha, Raghav & Garbero, Alessandra, 2017. "Poverty reduction during the rural–urban transformation: Rural development is still more important than urbanisation," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 963-982.
    10. Christiaensen, Luc & Todo, Yasuyuki, 2014. "Poverty Reduction During the Rural–Urban Transformation – The Role of the Missing Middle," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 43-58.
    11. Obaco, Moisés & Royuela, Vicente & Matano, Alessia, 2021. "On the link between material deprivation and city size: Ecuador as a case study," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    12. Ingwe Richard, 2012. "Physical health facilities in Nigeria’s sub-national regions: geodemographic and spatial analyses of health institutions in Nigeria’s 36 states and Federal Capital Territory," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 18(18), pages 39-54, November.
    13. repec:lic:licosd:42321 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Jean-Pierre Lachaud, 2009. "La féminisation de l'urbanisation de la pauvreté à Madagascar," Documents de travail 147, Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.
    15. Christiaensen, Luc & De Weerdt, Joachim & Kanbur, Ravi, 2016. "Urbanization and poverty reduction: the role of secondary towns in Tanzania," IOB Analyses & Policy Briefs 18, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).
    16. Canares, Michael P., 2010. "The Excluded Poor: How Targeting Has Left out the Poor in Peripheral Cities in the Philippines," WIDER Working Paper Series 061, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Ingwe Richard, 2017. "Crowdsourcing-Based Geoinformation, Disadvantaged Urbanisation Challenges, Subsaharan Africa: Theoretical Perspectives and Notes," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 36(1), pages 5-14, March.
    18. Kym Anderson & Maros Ivanic & William J. Martin, 2014. "Food Price Spikes, Price Insulation, and Poverty," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Food Price Volatility, pages 311-339, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Howard Stein, 2012. "The Neoliberal Policy Paradigm and the Great Recession," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 59(4), pages 421-440, September.
    20. Oludele Akinloye Akinboade & Segun Adeyemi Adeyefa, 2018. "An Analysis of Variance of Food Security by its Main Determinants Among the Urban Poor in the City of Tshwane, South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(1), pages 61-82, May.
    21. B Kelsey Jack, "undated". "Market Inefficiencies and the Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Developing Countries," CID Working Papers 50, Center for International Development at Harvard University.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:6:p:187-:d:560372. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.