Faecal theologies: caste, deities and the making of sanitary subjects in Himachal Pradesh, India

This research critically examines the implementation of sanitation programmes in a rural district in Himachal Pradesh, India, where reluctant privileged caste Hindus were gradually persuaded to adopt toilets in their domestic spaces. Centring the domestic space as a key site of contestation and negotiation, this study brings forth how the sanitation programme implemented by the state, development bodies and the religious institution of Devta encapsulates a form of governance that works to discipline bodies, practices, and domestic spaces while continuing to uphold caste-based norms of purity, pollution, and untouchability. Conceptually, we extend Justin Tse’s notion of grounded theologies by centring caste to demonstrate how placemaking in the study site is shaped not only by religious imaginaries but also by secular sanitary rationalities that operate within, and reproduce, a caste-based hygienic order. Overall, this research brings insights into geographies of religion and waste by examining the contestation of sacred spaces and religious subjectivities in relation to the symbolic, material and political understandings of human waste. Importantly, contrary to previous research presenting religious institutions as obstacles to sanitation, the paper demonstrates how their authority is actively mobilised to produce sanitary subjects, while simultaneously reinforcing caste hierarchies.