—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: [Sarai Newsletter] Call for Proposals for Short Term
IndependentResearch Fellowship From: "ranita" <ranita@sarai.net>
Date: Wed, September 10, 2003 11:26 am
To: newsletter@sarai.net
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Proposals Invited for Short Term Independent Research Fellowship
The Sarai Programme, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi

What is Sarai?
Sarai is a public initiative of media practitioners and scholars
looking at media cultures and urban life. Sarai's interests are in the
field of old and new media, information and communication
technologies, free software, cinema, and urban space - its politics,
built form, ecology, culture and history, with a strong commitment to
making knowledge available in the public domain. It is a programme of the
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. For more information
visit www.sarai.net

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.

Why Research? What do we mean by Research?
Sarai is committed to generating public knowledge and creativity
through research. Hence the support for research driven projects and
processes. The fellowships are in the nature of small grants in order to
emphasize the initiation and founding of projects that would
otherwise go unsupported

Here, by research we mean both archival and field research, and
forays into theoretical work as well as any process or activity of an
experimental or creative nature - for instance in the audiovisual media,
as well as in journalism or the humanities and social
sciences, or in computing and architecture.

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. For a
detailed list of the proposals click on
http://www.sarai.net/community/fellow.htm

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.

Preferred Approaches:
Innovative and interdisciplinary methodologies, that combine research,
practice, and delivery or rendition methods will be especially welcome.

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.

What you need to send?
There are no application forms. Simply post (snail mail) your
- Proposal (not more than1000 words)
- A brief workplan (not more than one page)
- An updated CV (not more than two pages)
- Work samples (maximum two. Work samples need not necessarily be in the
same area as the proposed project)
- Envelopes should be marked - "Attention : Short Term Independent
Research Fellowship 2003" [Email proposals will not be entertained].
Proposals may be sent in English or Hindi.

Mail these to: Ranita Chatterjee, Coordinator, Programmes, Sarai, Centre
for the Study of Developing Societies, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110054,
India.
Enquires: dak@sarai.net
Last date for submission: October 20, 2003.

Note: Proposals from teams, partnerships, collectives, faculty are
welcome, so long as the grant amount is administered by a single
individual, and the funds are deposited in a single bank account in the
name of an individual.

Applicants who apply to other institutions for support for the same
proposal will not be disqualified, provided they inform Sarai that
support is being sought (or has been obtained) from another institution.
The applicants should inform Sarai about the identity of the other
institution.

The Newsletter of the Sarai Programme,
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054, www.sarai.net
Info: dak@sarai.net.To subscribe: send a blank email to
newsletter-request@sarai.net with subscribe in the subject header.
Directions to Sarai: We are ten minutes from Delhi University. Nearest bus
stop: IP college or Exchange Stores

See Calendar and Newsletter online:
http://www.sarai.net/calendar/newsletter.htm