The Barefoot Researchers: A Movement is Born
The Youth Fellowship, PUKAR’s flagship project is based upon the concept of democratizing research and using it as a tool for alternative pedagogy, advocacy, intervention and transformation where research itself becomes a point of action with documentation becoming a moment of transformation of action. This well known project is supported by Sir Ratan Tata Trust.
This young and innovative experiment where youth explore the social, political, economic, environmental and cultural aspects of their neighborhoods and their own living experiences through the modality of research began in 2005. Born out of the argument which Professor Arjun Appadurai made in his landmark essay “Right to Research” this experiment, in real term means democratizing research thus making it available to everyone, especially the youth, and using research as an alternative pedagogical tool to bring in the folds youth who can not access the traditional pedagogical avenues. This idea by Professor Appadurai is executed in its full splendor in the Youth Fellowship today.
Here the youth while conducting the research, is simultaneously a knowledge producer and the learner. The unique part of this research is that it is posited in their neighborhoods or localities and anchored in their living experiences, thus creating distinctive knowledge about the city which perhaps is seldom possible in the high end, strongly academic research based in formal institutions. The conceptual framework of Youth Fellowship is based upon an assumption that youth have an implicit knowledge of their own self, family and locality hence they are most suitable to observe and document this knowledge in any format that suits their capacity and creativity.
Designing Concepts for Success
PUKAR started this process for the first time in 2005 when the Youth Fellowship (YF) Team invited groups of youth, either friends, members of a sports club, workers in the same place, a local mandal or residents of same neighborhood or college students.
The essential conceptualization of the design involves that one group of ten or twelve youth, led by a mentor or a catalyst would, with help of simultaneous, rigorous training, conduct research over a period of one year, in their own locality or in their own community on a subject of their own choice, which is anchored in their living experience.
The process involves initial selection, followed by orientation, formulating a research questions, learning to write biographies, learning various methodologies of social science research techniques like interviews, surveys, focus groups, case studies followed by data collection, analysis, synthesis and conclusion.
Who Can Join? Why?
Three phrases that would summarize the core of selection process, are, diversity of the youth groups, emphasis on participatory attitude and ability to sustain group! In the first year after inviting research project proposals from various youth groups via letter and poster campaign, the YF Team had a mammoth of task of choosing thirty groups from among all the applicants.
How was that task accomplished? Considering the fact that many of the applicants did not have the advantage of formal education system, which prevents them from writing a meaningful project proposal, it was decided to give an opportunity to each applicant to explain their project verbally. This meant interviewing everyone who applied. For many youth, coming for an interview in itself was an exposure and a huge opportunity which gave a strong boost to their self esteem. Many youth, who were passionate about their research idea, could not articulate it very well. In these situations their ideas had to culled out from their thoughts by engaging them in a conversation for a longer time, noticing other subjective things like eye contact and body language thus making the interview process very time and energy consuming. This process has continued on.
For the final selection, a few criteria are non negotiable for the YF Team. Those include the presence of participatory attitude of the youth as projected by the participants in their formal interviews and their informal interactions and the inclination towards team work instead of pushing individual agenda. The Team also seeks out those who are curious about their lives, their locality and the city and those who have the capacity to bring people together and sustain the group. It should be noted that even though this is a research project, the experience of research or for that matter even formal education is NOT a mandatory criteria.
For those who come up with the research proposal the YF Team feels that the proposal has to show potential; it does not have to be formulated in the classical academic style but it must show merit as representing an area of concern that could be explored.
One of the biggest strength of this program, from its inception has been the vast diversity within the youth groups who are selected. Since PUKAR deeply believes in making this program implicitly aim at giving space to marginalized groups, an idea of internal reservations so as to enhance the philosophy of “Democratization of Research” has been adopted from the inception of the program. This issue has been debated vigorously. Instead of selecting only university or college students, an effort is made to be inclusive, giving equal space to those come from the unlettered world or from very minimal educational background within a vernacular medium, located at the R-Urban margins of the metropolis and belonging to the lower middle class category. More than 70% of the groups selected belong to this description. The YF Team has always been positively biased about minority groups and all women groups. So, on one end the Youth Fellowship has Kishan Mantri, our celebrated construction worker and his group and on the other end of spectrum come youth from affluent university backgrounds, elitist International Baccalaureate schools and investment bankers like Rishi Arya and his group thus producing a spectrum across hundred and eighty degrees!
If diversity has been the strength of the program, it has also been the fragility of it. It is here that many fault lines have developed. It is this diversity that has produced some enthralling success stories like that of Kishan Mantri and it has also produced some heart breaking failures on our parts.
Research: A Journey of Labour, A Journey of Love
Key Words: Democratization, Participation, Collective Leadership, documentation, All through the program, there has been a clear emphasis on research as a process oriented learning journey rather than an end product oriented goal. This is reflected in the value placed on participatory research process as a mode of generating new knowledge. In addition, research across disciplinary boundaries and questions that enhance and develop knowledge about the city constitutes the broad framework of the program. Simultaneously there is an inherent belief that these objectives are achievable outside of the institutionalized idea of research and researchers.
Acculturation
During the Orientation Program the focus is on breaking down multiple barriers of gender, cast, class, culture, language, demographic and geographic diversities, educational disparities as well as personal inhibitions. Many debates are encouraged among the participants; starting with the idea of “research” to the profile of “researcher” to definition of “Youth” which help broadened the horizon on all these fronts.
One of our youth group, Kishan Mantri’s construction workers’ group challenged the very definition of youth when they shared that they had been working since early teen years and did not ever experienced things like fun and frolic, carefree attitude, a sense of invincibility, romance and fantasies; all the things traditionally associated with youth. Harshad Jadhav’s group of blind students who were doing research on blind hawkers redefined the typical profile of a researcher. Santosh Thorat’s group who was looking at graduate students working as coolies in Vashi Market shattered all the traditional ideas about graduate and postgraduate education and the upward mobility associated with it.
Re-Search of the Self! The Essence of Biography
The program visualizes biography writing not simply as a document but as a reflective process. Behind it lays a practice of reflection on part of the youth, reflection about themselves, their family and their upbringing that plays an influential role in shaping their attitudes and beliefs, their education or lack of it, and their peers and friends. Some of the youth coming from lower middle class or poor background seldom have had the concept of thinking about their lives with themselves as a reference point! When they are encouraged and cajoled to take up this task, they go through varied experiences, ranging from joy to fear to pain. For those with difficult past experiences, this may become a very agonizing experience. For others it may become a source of joy, liberation even catharsis. Some of them suddenly find themselves as a person with individual opinions, tastes, likes and dislikes.
At its very basic level, the biographies are the medium for exchange of information between all the participants of the group even though each one has the freedom to deny access to their personal information to their groups members. Even if there have been a degree of contact between the fellows and their catalyst prior to their involvement in the project, the biography is aimed at breaking down the formality of the previous relationships. This works particularly well for groups composed of a lecturers and their students. The inbuilt hierarchy of their relationship gradually loosens up as they move beyond the traditional barriers of a teacher – student relationship to that of being partners. Some of the biographies talk about their envisaged relationship with PUKAR Team, thus giving some valuable feed back. Expanding on the previous experiences, the biography workshop was given an additional angle of story telling so that youth could learn to narrate their own life as a story. That was very successful in the groups who could understand the language of the workshop while others who could not understand it, felt a strong sense of isolation!
For PUKAR, these youth biographies are rich documentations of lives lived and lives aspired…. And they are dynamic, presenting themselves in variety of shapes and forms.
Research Question: The Million Dollar Question
The process of formulating the research question remains the trickiest part of the fellowship. This is a reflection on the entrenched educational process of authoritarian teaching attitudes, where the emphasis is placed on memorizing answers and passing exams instead of creation and acquisition of true knowledge. The basic flaw of the traditional pedagogical method that suppresses questioning, independent thinking and analyzing makes it very difficult for the youth fellows to raise any research question. The period of July through September, when the groups are supposed to decide upon their research question is probably the most chaotic period of the fellowship program. Trying to get familiar with each other and the idea of research, developing and sustaining the group, building a consensus over the research question, all of these can be very difficult and stressful tasks for some groups. A lot of attrition takes place during this time.
The one good bi-product of this tumultuous process is that the youth get many chances to change their research question. One of the biggest strength of this program lies in the fact that the youth are allowed to change their minds, make mistakes and learn from them, a space usually not available in Indian social ethos! It is amazing to observe how this simple space can help develop a huge sense of responsibility in them.
Methodologies: Thinking out of the Box
PUKAR organizes multiple workshops through the year to train the youth about the process of research. The subjects of the workshops range from research methodologies, data collection, interviewing skills, focus groups to analysis, synthesis and conclusions. Many renowned scholars, activists, environmentalists, PUKAR Associates, urban planners, architects, journalists, authors, university faculty members and media personalities including directors, photographers and documentary film makers come to share with the youth various aspect of research. In addition workshops related to specific research projects are organized as demanded by specific groups.
PUKAR argues that non traditional methodologies like photo essays, interviews, video recordings, audio documentaries, mapping, paintings, poetry are just as powerful and as rigor oriented methodologies as are the traditional methods for social science research. These avenues become very important for documentations especially for those who are not well versed with or comfortable with writing skills yet they need to ensure that the rigor of the process does not get diluted.
Most of the research groups are divided according to some broad themes such as Gender, environment, education, culture, and the separate workshop are arranged. PUKAR Team ensures that some of the best experts in the fields are invited to engage the youth and make the experience mostly an interactive one. While the workshops are based upon a broader themes, some groups have difficulties drawing their learning from the thematic presentations and need constant supervision and one on one interaction.
Some of the most popular workshops are video documenting and photography. The concept of mapping as a methodology for social science research is a spectacular way of collection, documentation as well as communication of the data in spatial and temporal relationships. The temporal aspect of mapping can easily delineate the changing ethos and perceptions of the community around the issue while the spatial aspect make the visual land marking possible. Mapping workshop is of immense importance to research groups that are trying to archive various aspects of the city through their research. Photography workshop plays a similar role in the archiving of issues and inspires many creative ways to use photographs.
Reach Out: The Community Events
The community event is a democratic space created in the programme to promote the idea of “Right to Research”. The young researchers share their ideas, research process with the community. It is emphasized that participation of the community, whenever possible, is a crucial part of the process which often leads to critical evaluation of their project by others and helps to improve the quality of the research. The modalities of community events have been varied and all the youth groups are encouraged to use new and more creative ways of reaching out to the community. This includes giving power point presentations to a class full of students or watching plays as a team and debating the issues raised in the play, screening movies pertinent to their topic followed by discussions, organizing talks or interactive sessions with some eminent persons or even taking elocution competitions or painting competitions in the community which are related to the research topic.
One new strategy accomplished successfully by PUKAR is to ask three of four youth groups with similar research themes like education or environment, to organize community events together so as to understand the linkages of various topics as well as to promote peer learning. This experience also encourages cross fertilization of ideas!
Diary: A Loyal Friend
PUKAR Team has developed a diary for each youth group as a source of information and a tool for archiving their own journey through the year! The diary contains all the information about the time lines of the projects, various workshop and meeting dates, important submissions dates which helps the groups to try and remain adherent to the timelines. The most crucial part of this diary revolves around the fact that each meeting can be documented by the youth groups. It delineates headings like members present and absent, the topics of discussion and agreements and disagreements. If used diligently this framework is very useful to the youth groups to document their own progress and reflect upon their strengths and weaknesses as a group.
Dissemination
PUKAR makes concerted efforts to disseminate the findings of these small but critical research projects through many avenues.
The first important method of communication is through PUKAR’s E-Zine which reaches our friends and supporters every three months describing important issues related to the Youth Fellowship. The Youth Fellowship Website is another space through which all the information regarding the projects is accessible to the interested people across the globe.
PUKAR Youth Fellowship project has always received a great support from the regional media. The print media, both in regional languages and English language, cover various events of the YF programmes. The Pukar Youth Fellowship Team had an excellent opportunity to reach out to youth through a biweekly column in a special youth supplement of Loksatta, a leading Marathi newspaper for many months. Many of the programmes are covered on the regional TV channels thus reaching a wider audience.
Youth Express
The Youth Fellowship Team produces a small quarterly newsletter called “Youth Express” which describes various activities which take place within different groups. This is a very potent method for peer learning as well as for peer pressure acting as an inspiration for those who seem to lag behind in their project time lines.
Graduation Ceremony
The graduation ceremony at the end of the year provides maximum opportunity for the youth to share their research and their end products with the larger community, media, policy makers and each other. This day is a culmination of the long, onerous journey of the youth through the process of research! Their hard work of the year takes the shape of an end product which describes what their conclusions were about the research. But more importantly that that, it also becomes a moment when their imagination, creativity and adventurous spirit takes a flight!
The readers will find the description of these end products in the individual project section.
The vigor, vision and vitality of the youth palpable on the graduation day ceremony, is a testimony to the spirit of participation, engagement and dedication to their projects.
New Technologies
As the Youth Fellowship evolves further, the newer technologies will make communication, knowledge production and knowledge dissemination even more sophisticated yet easy. Many of the newer technologies like blogging, web pages have proven to be very effective in knowldege creation even with poor literacy levels and PUKAR hope to harness those to increase the dissemination processes.
Impact
So what is the true impact of this process? Many of the things which can not be measured do have a deep and long lasting impact on the lives of those who have gone through the process. One area where the real impact is achieved through such a wide spread training programme is by inclusion of many disenfranchised youth fellows into a process of alternative pedagogy since the formal educational system remains inaccessible to many of them. This has empowered them to negotiate their environment and their city. Many areas reveal a tangible but not necessarily measurable impact.
The process of fellowship not only empowers the youth to become an agent of change in the city but also changes the youth within.
Three areas where these changes are intensely felt are the knowledge, skills and attitudes of the youth fellows. In all these areas the Team has noticed a very visible and distinct change which occurs more intensely in some and less intensely in others. But it would not be an exaggeration to state that almost all the youth who pass through this experience are influenced by it some way or the other. In addition to acquiring knowledge about the research subject, they also obtain a good amount of knowledge about themselves, their families and their neighbourhood, as explained in the section on biography. Many other life skills and behaviour skills like communication, articulation, event management, time management, cost benefit ratios and extrapolations are inherently built in the process and are equated to the youth by the process.
But the most critical change that happens is the change in their attitudes. Certain democratic Principle s of tolerance, secularism, participation, equity and justice, are inherently built in the design of this process and it is in this space where even small changes which can happen within these youth can have a momentous impact on the future of the cities and nations! It is here, PUKAR believes, that meaningful impact actually happens.
Another area where the YF Team has seen serious impact is in the upward mobility experienced within the fellowship. Many youth fellows return to do the same programme because they have benefited hugely from it. Many youth fellows become catalysts. Pallavi and Kapil, both joined the programme as youth fellows, then became catalysts and finally became the youth fellowship coordinators while Vandana, a coordinator became the director of the programme during 2007-2009.Pallavi ultimately joined an organization in the U.S working as a social worker.Sunil, a catalyst in 2006, become a coordinator for the Youth Fellowship Programme as well as for the Advance Youth Fellowship Programme in 2010. All this changes are definite indicators of the success of the process. Many youth groups expand their nature of inquiry while many are so inspired by their conclusions and their own relationships with the communities that they start their own social initiatives to carry on the action part of their research. Many have changed their educational or career paths after the experience of the fellowship programme. Many find this experience very useful towards their livelihood security as they get hired to do research for other enterprises! While there are multiple ways to judge this process, for the PUKAR Team, the change within the youth by far is the most critical one.
This fascinating excursion of youth and their process of discovery; of self, family, and their city, the illuminating knowledge they produce about their city and constructive changes they bring to the core of their own citizenship have indeed become the hallmark of the Youth Fellowship Project.
Future Vision
As we move ahead, explore new frontiers of knowledge production and urbanism, we hope to reach out to other cities, other states and perhaps other countries where the young population will become an important stakeholder in the process of development of their cities and their countries. We believe that we have started a small but meaningful movement of the barefoot researchers. We have a faith that this movement, when spread world wide, gaining a critical mass, has the potential of changing the development paradigm of globalized, urbanized and interdependent world to make it sustainable, equitable, just and harmonious.
