- Government College University, Lahore, Psychology, Graduate Studentadd
Despite more than two decades of critical scholarly engagement, “development” is far from shedding its hierarchical, patriarchal, and colonial underpinnings. In academic research and teaching, powe...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
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This paper assesses whether vartan bhanji exchange practices are a boon or a burden, an enabling or disabling factor, a pass or an impasse for social mobility of the poor households of biraderis living in rural areas of Pakistan. Vartan... more
This paper assesses whether vartan bhanji exchange practices are a boon or a burden, an enabling or
disabling factor, a pass or an impasse for social mobility of the poor households of biraderis living in
rural areas of Pakistan. Vartan bhanji is an umbrella term that comprises highly obligatory, unfailingly
regular and reciprocal social exchange practices in the forms of gifts that are performed over various
life-cycle occasions, such as marriage, death, birth, and circumcision ceremonies among biraderi
members. Biraderi groups can be conceptualized as a figuration of interdependence. The results of
the current study establish that the poor households perceive vartan bhanji more as a necessary evil;
a system that they cannot go without, but also the one that they cannot afford to live without either.
Even though this very institution restricts their movement in society in subtle ways, it also provides
them identity, support, and protection that is essentially needed for their survival and mobility within
their social networks. This paper shows that the social mobility of an individual is rather a function of
and is restricted to his/her positionality within a biraderi. The limits of one’s exchanges, via vartan
bhanji, mark the limit of one’s social (im-)mobility in society as well.
disabling factor, a pass or an impasse for social mobility of the poor households of biraderis living in
rural areas of Pakistan. Vartan bhanji is an umbrella term that comprises highly obligatory, unfailingly
regular and reciprocal social exchange practices in the forms of gifts that are performed over various
life-cycle occasions, such as marriage, death, birth, and circumcision ceremonies among biraderi
members. Biraderi groups can be conceptualized as a figuration of interdependence. The results of
the current study establish that the poor households perceive vartan bhanji more as a necessary evil;
a system that they cannot go without, but also the one that they cannot afford to live without either.
Even though this very institution restricts their movement in society in subtle ways, it also provides
them identity, support, and protection that is essentially needed for their survival and mobility within
their social networks. This paper shows that the social mobility of an individual is rather a function of
and is restricted to his/her positionality within a biraderi. The limits of one’s exchanges, via vartan
bhanji, mark the limit of one’s social (im-)mobility in society as well.
Research Interests:
Despite more than two decades of critical scholarly engagement, “development” is far from shedding its hierarchical, patriarchal, and colonial underpinnings. In academic research and teaching, power relations are continuously perpetuated... more
Despite more than two decades of critical scholarly engagement, “development” is far from shedding its hierarchical, patriarchal, and colonial underpinnings. In academic research and teaching, power relations are continuously perpetuated – both implicitly and explicitly. Grounding our arguments on post- and decolonial critiques and our own experiences, we contend that how, why, and by whom “development” research is carried out must remain under constant scrutiny. We propose a reflexive and sociopolitically conscious approach of “knowledge co-construction”. Thus, we seek to decouple the myths of objective production of knowledge around “development” and provide (especially) students and early career researchers with a critical gaze.