The History of Christian Sweepers in Lahore

8 January | Ayra Indrias Patras Seminar
Thursday
08
January
2026
6:00 pm
7:00 pm
Jeudis de Suger-A. Patras
© Folio Books

Presentation of a research project as part of the "Jeudis de la Maison Suger", a residents' research seminar.

This session will welcome Ayra Indrias Patras for a presentation on the caste-based discrimination experienced by Chura Christian women in Pakistan. Drawing on their lived experiences, she highlights the caste hierarchies and social structures that shape and reproduce these inequalities in contemporary Pakistan.

Presentation of the project

Swept Aside explores the lives of Christian women from the "Chura" caste communities, historically employed as sanitation workers in Pakistan. As Ayra Indrias Patras points out: “Christians, who make up less than 5% of Lahore's population, account for more than 80% of the sanitation workforce,” a result of longstanding recruitment practices and current policies that maintain sanitation work as a "traditional caste occupation". The book offers a critical analysis of the historical and structural dynamics shaping these communities, both religious minorities and caste-oppressed, including internal stigmatisation perpetuated by certain Christian elites seeking to detach Christian identity from caste. Grounded in women’s lived experiences, it sheds light on persistent discrimination and the ongoing reproduction of caste hierarchies. Swept Aside traces these histories of discrimination–past, present, and possible futures–while foregrounding Chura communities through their own voices and spaces. It also shows how contemporary forms of privatisation contribute to reinscribing caste relations.

Swept Aside-A. I. Patras
© Folio Books

Speaker

Dr Ayra Indrias Patras is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Forman Christian College, A Chartered University, in Lahore. Her research focuses on marginalized identities, gender, and human rights. This book is based on her doctoral work, which examines the intersection of gender, caste, and labor, and the impact of this intersectionality on women employed as cleaning agents in Lahore.

Published at 21 November 2025