Posters for school elections
Deciding on a research topic before arriving in India was a task that I anticipated struggling with. Plenty of ideas came to mind, but knowing which one would work best, which would be plausible or interesting, was difficult to determine. Regardless, I had to come up with a solid idea before embarking on the program, so I wrote out a proposal that I felt confident in. After being in Delhi for a couple of weeks, however, my assumptions about what would interest me and what would be easy to research were proven wrong. Although certain parts of our experience in Delhi have aligned with my expectations, there have been plenty of aspects of the city, culture and experience as a whole that I was not expecting. From the vibrant nightlife, to overly curious men taking photos of our group, there has been a lot that I wasn’t anticipating . One of these things is the amount of time we’ve gotten to spend with people around our own age, which is the direction in which my research project is now heading. We’ve been given a good chance to spend time with young residents of the city after meeting with students from Delhi University. On one of our first days in India we had about an hour long group discussion with Delhi students, surrounding family backgrounds, fears for the future, and aspects of the city, including politics. Many of the students in the class were relatable, kind, articulate, and involved, and sparked my interest on focusing on young people of India for my research project. Given that the country is steeped in tradition, history and religion, I thought that it would be fascinating to turn the tables and look at youth culture, and explore its interactions with a fairly traditional, often conservative society. One female student in particular discussed the struggles that can come with being a young woman in India, someone that wants to go out at night with their friends and feel comfortable doing so. She talked about the struggles that come up when you want to be progressive and “all feminist” but you have to remain safe at the same time, using the example of wearing a short skirt when going out. I really enjoyed hearing these students voice their opinions and experiences, and it made me want to further investigate the voices of young Delhites, along with other young people in the other cities were traveling to–Chennai and Varanasi. I’m framing my project and the interviews I’ll be doing in a somewhat open ended manner, particularly because I’m expecting to have any assumptions about youth in India, and about doing research on the topic, proved wrong. My plan is to present my topic to the person I’m interviewing, reconciling modern culture, and often western influence, with traditional, often religious India, and then offer up some topics that may or may not resonate with the interviewee–social media, parental limitations, beauty standards, disconnect with religion, pushes towards progressivism, musical influence and education.