Participatory Design

Yeh Hamara Ghar Hai: Creating a Neighbourhood Museum in a Resettlement and Rehabilitation Colony in Govandi, Mumbai through a community based oral histories. 

Common working class people are rarely reflected in history. We know so much of the political upheavals, wars and catastrophes of the past but there is very little known about the lived experiences of the people through those events. This has, of course, changed in the postmodern world defined by developmental challenges researchers, academicians and historians trying to question, engage and record the lives on the margins. From not knowing anything, we now know too much that experience of living on the margins but often the gaze through which this information filters is mostly of an outsider. This four week studio will challenge the hegemonic gaze through which stories of neglected and marginalised neighbourhoods are told and perceived. Students will collaborate with the community of an R&R colony in Govandi to create a neighbourhood museum, learning to be collaborators and facilitators of the process, bringing out the spirit and culture of resilience.