Hidden in the Heat: Exploring Socio-Spatial Inequalities and Educational Challenges in Karachi’s Heatwaves

Abstract (English)

This study explores how discourses surrounding extreme heat shape educational disruption and community resilience in Machar Colony, one of Karachi’s largest informal settlements. Drawing from anthropological and sociolinguistic methods, it examines how state policies, media narratives, and religious education frame vulnerability and adaptation in the face of intensifying climate conditions. Through ethnographic insights and discourse analysis, the study reveals how climate extremes are interpreted and negotiated in everyday life, with heatwaves functioning as slow-onset disasters that entrench educational and infrastructural inequalities. Special attention is given to the role of madrassahs—non-state religious schools—as moral and pedagogical institutions that can either reinforce fatalism or foster climate-responsive ethics. The findings underscore the urgency of integrating local cultural frameworks and non-formal education systems into climate adaptation strategies, particularly in contexts where formal institutions fail to address the lived realities of marginalized urban populations. This research contributes to disaster anthropology, climate education, and urban resilience by illuminating how language, belief systems, and socio-spatial inequalities co-produce vulnerability and shape collective responses to environmental crisis.