Sarai is a programme of the Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi.
Sarai reflects the Centre's very contemporary
concerns in intellectually and creatively
addressing issues of the new millennium. The
past few years have witnessed the explosive
growth of a new urban media culture in India,
transforming the terms of popular culture
as it is lived at the level of everyday life.
Sarai is an effort to understand and creatively
intervene in this new media space. The word
Sarai evokes a place of refuge, habitat, or
traveller's lodge in several Asian languages.
It reflects the programme’s vision to create
a convivial site for conversation, creativity
and movement.
WHAT DOES SARAI DO?
Sarai researches the urban
experience, the city, the publics and practice
of (old & new) media,
"information and society", free
& open source software, language and digital
cultures. Sarai research has flowed into conferences,
books, articles, art Installations and even
school textbooks. Our researchers include
scholars and practitioners. Sarai places a
premium on the research process as a whole,
rather than just the final outcome. This means
that Sarai research material continually reaches
the public domain through collaborative mailing
lists, CD's, small essays, apart from conferences
and scholarly research articles and books.
Sarai publishes a diverse
body of print material. These include books
(The Sarai Readers, the Deewan-e-Sarai and
the Media Nagar Series), broadsheets (Sarai.txt,
Cybermohalla Broadsheets) and occasional publications
('By Lanes', 'The Book Box' etc.) on paper
as well as on the web. This diversity supplements
the academic output of the Sarai programme
and adds to the intervention In the public
domain. All Sarai publications maybe freely
downloaded for non commercial on-commercial
& educational use from the Sarai website.
Sarai embodies a continuing
engagement with creativity in urban working
class neighborhoods through the 'Cybermohalla'
Project in collaboration with 'Ankur' Society
for Alternatives in Education,
Sarai supports a growing
network of independent researchers, practitioners
and students all over India through its well
known short term independent Fellowship programme
and fellowships and stipendships for students.
Sarai invites critical reflections
on the nature of the contemporary moment,
by holding regular screenings and discussion
of curated programmes of fiction, documentary
and experimental films and video, and by acting
as a convivial context for online and offline
conversations through discussions, mailing
lists and blogs in English and Hindi at the
Sarai space and on the Sarai website.
Sarai engages with the Hindi/Hindustani
public domain through publications, translation,
lists, web content, software localization,
events and workshops.
Sarai organises conferences,
seminars, workshops, summer schools, colloquia,
colloquia and hosts occasional residencies
around themes that that reflect the programme's
intellectual and creative interests.
Sarai produces media (video,
audio, print, web) and contemporary art works,
CDs, radio and software. Works produced at
the Sarai Media Lab have been exhibited in
several international venues such as Documenta11,
and the Venice, Liverpool and Taipei Biennales.
Sarai collaborates with
organizations and initiatives locally, regionally
and internationally globally on events, processes,
networks, projects and publications.
Sarai reaches out to students
and faculty in colleges, institutes, university
departments and student societies to organize
talks, discussions, readings, screenings,
screenings, informal interactions and conversations.
Sarai archives different
facets of contemporary popular culture, urban
space and media forms with a view to making
information about them available to a wide
public of researchers and practitioners.
Quick Links:
Website: www.sarai.net
Website: www.sarai.net
Conferences: http://www.sarai.net/resources/event-proceedings
Sarai Readers: http://www.sarai.net/publications
Dewan-E-Sarai: http://www.sarai.net/publications/deewan-e-sarai/
