Beggar Bosses on the Streets of Dhaka

Abstract

Public characterisations of begging tend in two directions: destitution or fraud. On the one hand begging is portrayed as largely disorganised, and on the other, criminally organised. Based on rare ethnographic research with people who beg and live on a pavement in Dhaka, Bangladesh, this article confronts such understandings, arguing that those who beg often conceive of the act as work, and relationships in such context can mirror those found among labour. Here beggars employ assistants, and associations emerge from beggars themselves, playing diverse roles, including the provision of savings and credit. While such hierarchies are largely neglected in the literature, sparse historical cases, particularly from Asia, suggest similar arrangements may be more common than recognised. This article thus builds towards a broader agenda concerning the hierarchies and associational lives of people who beg.