Mumbai IFP 2006
This IFP has two components. Main one involves internships on urban issues with PUKAR, "an innovative and experimental non-profit institution that takes Mumbai as its conceptual base and laboratory and aims to contribute to a global debate about urbanization and globalization" (see www.pukar.org.in). Internships may include projects related to gender and space, neighborhood ethnographies, and post-industrial landscapes. These internships require that students possess excellent research skills and be capable of working both autonomously and in a team.
The second component of the India IFP focuses on community-led development in India with the Mumbai-based development organization Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP), which means "self-education for empowerment." SSP's work focuses on empowering rural women's groups to access resources and decision-making skills. The organization works with approximately 1100 grassroots women's groups in western India and is committed to scaling up innovations through peer-based learning processes that enable communities rather than NGOs to own and control their knowledge. (See their website at www.sspindia.org).
For both components students will be based in Mumbai, where both PUKAR and SSP are headquartered.
Language note: There is no language requirement, though working knowledge of Hindi or one of the local languages is a plus. When needed, students will work through local interpreters.
Faculty Director: Pukar