The Sarai Programme, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi Sarai is a programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi. CSDS is one of India’s best known research centres, with traditions of dissent and a commitment to the work of the public intellectual going back four decades. The Sarai Programme at CSDS was initiated in 2000 as a platform for discursive and creative collaboration between theorists, researchers and practitioners actively engaged in reflecting on contemporary urban spaces in South Asia—their politics, built form, ecology, culture and history—as well as on the histories, practices and politics of information and communication technologies, the public domain and media forms.
We invite applications for the upcoming cycle of Sarai-CSDS Independent Research Fellowships.
Who Can Apply?
Sarai invites independent researchers, media practitioners, software designers and programmers, urbanists, architects, artists and writers, as well as students (post graduate level and above) and university and college faculty to apply for support to research driven projects.
The Experience of Previous Years
This is the third year in which Sarai has called for proposals for such fellowships. We would like to spell out the way in which the process worked in the previous years, as an indication of what applicants should expect. The first year saw the selection of twenty proposals, in the second year thirty six proposals were selected. These included work towards projects based on investigative reportage of urban issues; essays on everyday life; a history of urban Dalit performance traditions; soundscapes of the city; a graphic novel about Delhi; a documentation of the free software movement in India; research on displacement and rehabilitation in cities; interpretative catalogues of wall writings and public signages; histories of cinema halls and studios in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata; a study of the world of popular fiction and many others. Successful applicants included freelance researchers, academics, media practitioners, writers, journalists and activists.
The projects were submitted in English, Hindi or a combination of the two languages. We have seen that projects that set important but practical and modest goals were usually successful, whereas those that may have been conceptually sound but lacked sufficient motivation to actually pursue a research objective on the field, usually did not take off beyond the interim stage. Sarai interacted closely with the researcher over the period of the fellowship and the independent fellows made monthly postings on a public list as well as a final presentation at Sarai. This enabled us to trace the development of work during the grant period and the fellows to obtain structured but informal feedback from us at Sarai in stages during the course of their work. Submissions at the end of the fellowship period included written reports and essays, photographs, tape recordings, audio CDs, pamphlets, maps, drawings and html presentations.
What we are Looking For
As in the past, this year too we are looking for proposals that are imaginatively articulated, experimental and methodogically innovative, but which are pragmatic and backed up by a well argued work plan which sets out a time table for the project, as well as suggests how the support will help with specific resources (human and material) that the project needs. Suggested Themes: Sarai’s interests lie in the city and in media. Broadly speaking any proposal that looks at the urban condition, or at media, is eligible. More specifically, themes may be as diverse as habitation, sexuality, labour, social/digital interfaces, urban violence, street life, technologies of urban control, health and the city, the political economy of media forms, histories of particular media practices, intellectual property law, migration, transportation, or anything that the applicants feel will resonate with the philosophy and interests that motivate Sarai’s work. Sarai supports innovative and inventive modes of rendering work into the Public Domain. Proposals, which pay attention to this, will be particularly valued.
Conditions
Applicants should be resident in India, and should have an account in any bank operating in India. The research fellowship would be available for up to six months and for a maximum amount of Rs. 60,000. The fellowships do not require an every day presence at Sarai. These are support fellowships and fellowship holders will be free to pursue their primary occupations, if any. Last date for submission: October 20, 2003.