Final Year Project

Project Title

At the Library: Looking for the Self in Borrowed Words

Description

My research focused on children's libraries in middle/upper-middle-class schools of Karachi. I explored how children's reading during their early school years, with a lack of representation of brown children in the available literature, impacted how they viewed themselves and the world around them as they grew older. By navigating children's libraries across the city, I also looked into how Urdu literature has been systematically relegated to the sidelines. Based on my research, I am designing an interactive exhibit resembling a children's library which features an illustrated storybook. The story is set in a school during colonial-era Karachi, highlighting how colonial systems impacted children's perceptions of whiteness and the English language.