Our Philosophy
What does ‘Mukti’ mean in Project Mukti?
We all might have desired freedom at least once in our lives. Our society is rife with rules, expectations, constraints and discrimination after all. For us, ‘Mukti’ is more than just ‘Freedom’. For us, ‘Mukti’ is the end of the discrimination, marginalisation, stigma and violence that oppressed communities face starting from their birth to the grave. We can only envision a new world for ourselves by putting an end to all of it — from gender discrimination, body shaming, domestic violence, sexual violence, homophobia, transphobia, caste-based occupations, discrimination, stigma, slurs and the list goes on.
A new world where children from marginalised communities feel free to ask questions, make friends of their choice, pursue any career that they desire and become what they dream of becoming. A new world where girls, women, gender non-binary and transgender persons from marginalised communities write and speak about themselves and their communities, have the liberty to choose a career, make choices of their own and create an identity they have always wanted to own.
At Project Mukti, we don’t seek to empower or teach in a hierarchical way. We believe in nurturing marginalised communities towards their socio-economic growth. As Ambedkarite-Feminists, we work with Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi women and children to achieve this through education. Systemic and interpersonal discrimination causes intergenerational trauma which runs deep in our communities. However, most models of education are not trauma-informed. That is why our pedagogy of knowledge building and sharing takes into account the emotional, developmental, social and economic effects of marginalisation. Our curricula and workshops place emphasis on building resilience, addressing trauma and mental health openly without stigma in both women and children. We believe in multiple intelligences and work in open participatory formats that cater to different learners' styles, including spatial, linguistic, musical, interpersonal, logic-mathematical and kinetic among others.
We facilitate learning by providing a safe and supportive space , where one feels heard and belongs. When the community owns the space, learning becomes fun, engaging and exciting. Students associated with us love to go to school and engage in conversations that have never been a part of their lives. Their parents, many of whom work as domestic workers and contractual workers, dream of a better future and are fully invested in their children’s present. Girls and women associated with us feel confident about exploring new career opportunities and aspire to different goals for themselves and their families.
We do this work to dream of alternative futures for our people!
