About the Project

Hum Hindustani is a research project on children and citizenship examined through the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity, guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution of India. It is part of the TESF India network that seeks to develop a better understanding of how education systems can be transformed to support sustainable development. Hum Hindustani focusses on children from Grades 6-9 at 3 sites – Shaheen Bagh in Delhi that was a site of a citizens’ protest, rural Firozpur in Punjab that was active in the Farmers’ Protests, and Kitab Mahal, a library catering to Dalit and Muslim children in Govandi. The sites provide a range of experiences and identities that throw up questions about the relationship between existing state policy and complex everyday life. The project uses a combination of arts-based exercises, done in collaboration with children to draw out their responses, as well as documentary interviews with the children and some adults.

TESF Network projects are funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund through the Economic and Social Research Council Network Plus scheme

Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures (TESF Network Plus)

TESF Network Plus supports collaborative research to develop understanding of how education systems can act as drivers of sustainable development. It is coordinated out of the University of Bristol and works with partners in India, Rwanda, Somalia/Somaliland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Research undertaken in the network addresses inequalities relating to poverty, gender and the status of indigenous knowledge and seek to foreground marginalised voices and decolonise research. TESF India is anchored at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS), Bangalore.

About the Principal Researcher

Hum Hindustani has been conceived and executed by Samina Mishra, an award-winning writer, documentary filmmaker and teacher based in New Delhi, with a special interest in media for and about children. Her work uses the lens of childhood, identity and education to reflect the experiences of growing up in India. Her recent work includes the award-winning Jamlo Walks, a picture-book that tells a story of the migrants walking back home during the March 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, Nida Finds a Way, a chapter book for early readers that follows a young girl as she explores the world around her including the public protest at Shaheen Bagh, and Happiness Class, a documentary film on the idea of happiness for children, examined through the Happiness Curriculum in Delhi government schools. She is the founder of The Magic Key Centre for the Arts and Childhood that works with children and adults on using the arts in education. The Centre’s recent work includes The Incredible Child, an exhibition emerging from a year-long arts-based programme for Afghan refugee children at the Simurgh Centre, Delhi.

The Team

Field Assistance

Neha Gupta

Seher Islam

Transcriptions

Neha Gupta

Seher Islam

Data Analysis

Bhavini Pant

Ruchi Shewade

Additional Assistance

Munazzah

Learning Experiences Design

Rhythm Sharma

Riya Dhameja

Munazzah

Graphic Design

Seher Islam

Website Design

The Orange Yak Co.

Collaborators in the Field

Shaheen Bagh

Kehkashan Riyaz

Razia

Govandi

Kitab Mahal, Community Design Agency

Bhawna Jaimini

Tayyaba

Affan

Sana

Firozpur

Sukhwinder Kaur

Harpreet Kaur

Baljit Kaur

Acknowledgements

Farah Farooqui Manish Jain Nandini Manjrekar Poonam Batra Simran Sadh Sujata Noronha