Abstract:
Most of the slum dwellers in Pakistan, including the Christian minority, are living
a highly poor, deprived and marginalized life. The Christian minority living in these
slums, despite going through extreme hardships for the last many decades, could not
improve their socio-economic conditions and come out of the sustained poverty. This
scientific research explores the socio-cultural and economic reasons behind the sustained
poverty amongst the Christian minority living in the slums of Pakistan. The locales
chosen for the study were the squatter settlements within Islamabad. This anthropological
study explores the main rationales behind poverty in Christian minority while utilizing
the framework of Marvin Harris‘s cultural materialism and Oscar Lewis’s idea of culture
of poverty. During the research process purposive / judgmental sampling is ensued.
Based on the data collected through survey, unstructured and in-depth interviews, case
studies and focus group strategies are followed to enrich the database. The study is
significant in a sense that outcome of this scientific inquiry has re-orientated and
enlighten the root causes of poverty, marginalization and deprivation in Christian
minority in Pakistan, which may contribute in re-framing the socio-economic
developmental policies by public sector, civil society and non-governmental
organizations.
