Step,
Choose
& Play
by

Shruti Gupta

Master of

Design, 2018

A CRITICAL AND PROCESS DOCUMENTATION PAPER
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT
OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF DESIGN

EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART + DESIGN
2018

a note
of thanks

There are no words to explain how full of gratitude I am, to have been on this exceptional journey
of two years in Emily Carr. This dissertation would not have been complete without the valuable
encouragement, care and kindness from my Supervisors - Deborah Shackleton and Hélène Day
Fraser. They have challenged and believed in me even when I didn't and have truly been my pillars
of support. Thankyou for sharing your boundless knowledge, life experiences and showing me the
magic of Design Research.
To Louise St. Pierre, Keith Doyle, Craig Badke, Gillian Russell Katherine Gillieson and Celeste Martin
- I have learnt something valuable from each of you and you have been instrumental in building
the foundation of all my work here at Emily Carr. I am truly honoured to have earned this
education under your guidance.
MDes 2018 - you have shown me what standing together through thick and thin really looks
like, this project is every bit yours as it is mine. Thankyou for participating in all my studio
interventions, sharing your unique perspectives and for being my first friends in Canada,
you all are truly special! (Shout out to The Originals!)
To Pete, Sam, Nova and Manon - thank you for playing my Snakes & Ladders and for all the spoton recommendations - you made this game so much stronger.
To Ranjani & Kailash, my family here in Canada - for their unflinching support, love and warmth
- thankyou for looking out for me.
And finally, I acknowledge my privilege everyday because I would not be here on this journey if
it wasn't for my loving family - Maa, Baba, Sam, Kash and Pickles - who gave me all the freedom,
opportunities and made education and learning top priority, always.

Step, Choose & Play, 2018

Step,
Choose
& Play
A Designed Intervention
to challenge the status quo

supervised by
Deborah Shackleton &
Hélène Day Fraser

table of
contents
The Beginning
Abstract - p.6

Note to the reader - p.7
Introduction - p.8
Glossary - p.9

Methods & Approaches
Narratives p. 11

Embodied Knowledge - p.12
Gestures - p.12
Making - p.13

The Contextualizing

Context: Origins of the Hindu Caste System - p.15
Visualisation of a village: means of explaining - p.20
Noticing: Summer Felt Dolls - p.23
Remembering - p.24
Context: expectations of women Of Good and Bad girls- p.25
Context: expectations of women - of Fathers & Marriage - p.27
On Indian FIlm & The Status Quo - p.29
On Indian Film & the Implications - p. 31

Play It

The Game - p. 35
The Game & Chance - p. 37
The Game & Choice - p. 40
Snakes. Ladders & Choice - p. 44
The Cards: Choices to be made - p.48

NExt

Looking Forward - p.53
Not An End Note - p. 54

The References - p. 56				
List of Figures - p. 60				
Appendix A - p. 61

Appendix B - p.68
Appendix C -p. 70

1. the beginning
1.1 abstract
1.2 note to the reader
1.3 introduction
1.4 glossary

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p. 5

abstract

The global climate of #MeToo and #TimesUp has forced us to recognise that violence against
women has a long and dark history that needs to be acknowledged. Antithetical to this are the
number of crimes against women recorded by the India National Crime Record Bureau (thirty
nine per hour) (NCRB, 2016). The brutal rape of Nirbhaya shocked countries world over. It forced
Indians to take notice - this had more to do with the breeding of a culture of violence than a
case of a one-off incident. In this context, the objective of this dissertation and its outcomes have
been to expose a few examples of where this violence towards women potentially stems from.
Within a research framework grounded in design and material praxis, this thesis used a narrative
based enquiry along with embodied ways of knowing to develop a series of interventions that
cite historical and contemporary examples. These informed three rounds of redesign of the well
known game Snakes and Ladders. User participation and testing were used to refine schemas
of chance to choice within the game. Throughout this design process I have aimed to challenge
behaviors and provide spaces to have discussions about problematic biases that subjugate women.
Moving forward this work will continue to be developed. It will shift, with care and attention, to
India where it will be further developed to better reflect the nuances of the context it is meant for.

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note to
the reader
Over the past two years women have become increasingly vocal, more assertive and exceptionally
defiant in their fight against injustice and inequality. Individuals such as Harvey Weinstein,
Louis CK, Kevin Spacey and Aziz Ansari have been called out with charges of sexual assault,
misconduct and untoward behavior towards women. 2017 has seen raging movements on social
media like the #MeToo and #TimesUp campaigns which have sent out crystal clear messages that
women will no longer stay silent.
One in three (35%) women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate
partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime (WHO, 2017) . This statistic also
suggests that women who have been abused in childhood are more likely to experience and accept
intimate partner violence.
But while many contemporary women are vocal, articulate and in positions to stand up against
powerful people and organizational structures, this is not the case for all. Collier Meyerson (2017)
recently noted that there is a crucial wrinkle: People on the margins—women of color, poor
women, undocumented women, and trans men and women—are uniquely impacted by sexual
assault and harassment. (Meyerson, 2017)
This thesis acknowledges the global conversations that have been informing my journey and
explorations. It seems what is needed now is a shift in mindset, not as a space to teach and inform
but towards making noise - a real change in discourse and action. The expectations of women for
the most part remain the same across the world - of being treated as equals, with dignity and with
the freedom to be who they aspire to be.

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introduction

Marginalized: (of a person, group, or concept) treated as insignificant or peripheral.
So, very distinct from the North American perspective, this document is about those women of
India- who are less privileged, less educated and so often marginalised. It aims to expose and
find means to address the factors that influence women’s systemic oppression and perpetuate
stereotypical role expectations in society. It has been, for me, as a woman, a means of considering
ways in which we might be able to bridge the gender divide and reclaim our place in society in a place I call home. The following sections will describe the progress of this body of research
which was generative and grounded in material practice. Initially, this project, which addresses the
Indian context, began by seeking means to address child safety and protection from sexual abuse
by empowering caregivers. Quickly however, secondary research and a shift of focus amplified the
extent to which women in India are still largely shackled when it comes to their autonomy. Hindu
doctrines and epics have specifically defined roles for women.
When challenged, these expectations are met with great opposition and sometimes even death.
This confusing and restrictive environment is further complicated when the portrayal of women
in Indian popular culture is considered.
I will draw you through my process in stages. The first section addresses the Indian context
and speaks specifically to the existence of the Hindu Caste System and its historical and
contemporary repercussions on women. This will be used to provide the reader with the
contextual framing that guides this dissertation. The next section discusses the use of stories and
storytelling in India and details aspects of my material, studio based practice, including craft
based activities and video prototypes that explore representations of women in Indian Bollywood
Masala films as well as the daily reality they inhabit. The last section discusses the development
and iterative redesign of the popular board game: Snakes and Ladders as a tool for sensitisation
and a means to ignite needed discourse about alternate futures for women in India.

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glossary

Masala: Literally known as a blend of spices. In this thesis it alludes to the presence of a variety
of song and dance sequences, some drama, romance, action, a lavish wedding and item numbers.
Kaavad: It is a box made to resemble a shrine or temple and has various visual narratives hand
painted on each door. Gyan Chaupar:
Mahabharatat: One of the two major Sanskrit epics from India and also considered the longest
poem ever written. Amongst Hindus it has philosophical and devotional relevance.
Manusmriti: Dharmashastra is a genre of Sanskrit texts, and refers to the treatises (shastras) of
Hinduism on dharma.The Manusmriti is the most important and earliest metrical work on the
Dharmashastra.
Patriarchy: A system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are
largely excluded from it. (Patriarchy, n.d.)
Cognitive dissonance: Cognitive dissonance refers to a situation involving conflicting attitudes,
beliefs or behaviors. (McLeod, 2014)
Fourth wall: The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imagined wall
separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this wall, the convention
assumes, the actors act as if they cannot. (Fourth Wall, N.D.)
Gesture: Moving a hand, head, eyes or any part of the body to express an idea, feeling or emotion.
Making: The process of constructing meaning, ideas and thought through the manipulation
and creation of tangible artefacts.
Chance: An opprtunity for action
Choice: The opportunity to make a decision that will lead to action or inaction
Advantage: A favourable outcome; one that creates an opportunity to gain from
Diadvantage: An unfavourable outcome; one that hampers productivity or progress

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2. the grounding
2.1 narratives
2.2 embodied knowledge
2.3 gestures
2.4 making

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p. 10

methods and
approach
Over the past eighteen months I have intuitively set up a creative framework made up of
Narratives, Gestures and Making. These have helped me sort through knowledge and insight
I have encountered and has shifted me through different stages of my work.
My approach has parallels to work taken on by many other researchers. In a recent paper Wilde,
Vallgårda & Tomico detail aspects of Embodied Design Ideation (EDI). They note that practices
that “work with relationships between body, material and context, enliven design and research
potential” (Wilde, Vallgårda & Tomico, 2017). The framework they detail is a useful one to
consider my own work. Grounded in the approaches of Phenomenology which is the study of
experiences from a first-person point of view by Merleau - Ponty and Estrangement - which
has to do with “relearning” situations that are familiar and turn them upside down to “enable
reflection on the innate and tacit”. EDI methods include - kinaesthetic interaction, embodied
sketching, bodystorming and co-designing with users amongst others (Wilde, Vallgårda &
Tomico, 2017). Several activities from my studio practice that are detailed below and lead to my
most recent design intervention - Snakes and Ladders (See section on Snakes & Ladders) employ
similar tactics to EDI methods. In my case, Narrative, Gesture and Making have governed my
research journey. As these aspects have been key to my progression it is worth looking at my
inquiry through the lenses of these three central themes.

narratives
In their paper, Golsteijn and Wright (2011) refer to Bruners’ concept of Life As Narrative.
Bruner arguess that-“human beings construct meaning, make sense, and engage in ‘world making’
through ‘narrative’ – that is, through creating, telling, hearing, recording, and reading stories.”
(Golsteijn & Wright, 2011, pg. 2)
Inviting stories into my studio practice helped me activate my making process and break down
complex and messy problems. My visualisations of a village (see section number 3), use of a
cloth parrot, redeployment of the Kaavad, invitation for others to participate in stitching circles,
mapping of the lives of children (See appx A) and finally the stories and experiences discussed
in a revised version of Snakes and Ladders detailed in the final sections of this thesis document
all exemplify this. In each of these cases I use language, visuals, and modulation of voice and
gestures to help set scenes and invite myself and others to contemplate what would have been
otherwise difficult to consider. I was not always present in the storytelling. The process of pulling
on narratives was both an internal exercise and a social invitation.
These narratives provide the scaffolding on which I build layers of understanding that
inform the artefacts I make.
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embodied knowledge

Dewey, (as cited in Bresler) refers to ‘body-mind’ as a means of identifying the deeply connected
paths of knowing, where body and mind intersect and become entangled. He asserts that “body-mind is not simply the acknowledgement of the sensory input that goes into the brain,
but is based upon the interaction of subject within a complex and challenging environment.”
(Bresler, 2014) Unwittingly my studio practice was contingent on embodied gestures
throughout. These drove key insights and approaches in my work. Interestingly I did not
identify this repetitive pattern until the very end.

gestures
Experts in Embodied cognition emphasize that knowing arises from physical interactions of the
organism with its world. Bodily experiences are said to lead to sensorimotor schemata that are
extended, by metaphor and metonymy (Lakoff as cited in Roth and Lawless, 2002).
The gestures we make inherently play a role in this synthesis and pattern recognition.
The Oxford Dictionary defines gesture as - “A movement of part of the body, especially a hand
or the head, to express an idea or meaning” (Gesture, n.d, para 1). Perhaps owing to my theatre
experience I tend to use large gestures and expressions - so it wasn’t surprising that it creeped into
my studio practice as I tried to ground my work and sort things out.
In an intervention titled visualisation of a village, I consistently used gestures to explain and
sort. My hands helped me to speak to where objects, homes, people and institutions were placed
geographically and on the floor. The gesture of displacing characters and placing them on the
boundaries of the village, because of their Caste, referenced assumed and established power
dynamics. In the making and storytelling connected to this design intervention I sometimes
took a doll who represented a higher Caste and placed it in front - at the prime spot - of what
represented the school, the inside of a temple, etc. This allowed me to articulate notions of
accessibility. Later, I observed that I frequently repeated this gesture of lifting up, shifting, and
resituating an artefact on a floor setting, in other studio explorations: Mapping of the lives of
children and later user testing of the designed intervention- "game" - Snakes. Ladders. Choice!
This tactic of situating work on a different plane (the floor) and communicating through gesture
was useful. The performative element in my gestural movements allowed me, as researcher, to
shift my role to that of narrator, storyteller and performer. Doing so drew out different types of
responses. Non-verbal cues often helped me fill essential gaps that I was unable to identify with
words. I established meaning and marked out issues by manipulating myself and the artifacts I
was designing. I began to realise that gestures were essential pauses that allowed both viewers and
myself to fill in and contemplate uneasy experiences.
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making
Making occurs in multiple forms, contexts and is at the core of art, design and craft
practice but is not limited to just these. The act of making is powerful, as through
making we also make meaning, communicate meaning and share meaning: the act of
making has a corporeal cognitive dimension. In sense-making through handling,
shaping and interacting with various materials, our hands form the connection between
mind and material. (Groth, 2017, p. 1)
From the onset I engaged in a varied material practice I made use of: paper, cloth, thread, paint,
masking tape, post it notes. Eventually I shifted to explorations in digital realms. Even then, in
my video prototypes, I continued to manipulate and moved things around. Throughout, in all
my explorations, the narratives and gestures layered my making and designing of artefacts.
This, in turn, became an external response to thinking, conversing, observing and experiencing.
It became my means of propelling me forward.

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3. the contextualizing
3.1 origins of the hindu caste system
3.2 visualization of a village
3.3 noticing
3.4 remembering
3.5 expectations of women
3.6 on indian film

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context: origins
of the hindu caste system
As a means to contextualize and frame the material practice that will be detailed below, this
section will discuss the aspects of the Hindu Caste system that have been crucial in positioning
the roles and statuses of women in contemporary India.
The census on religion conducted in 2001, identified that 80.5% of the Indian population is
Hindu. Having been exposed predominantly to Hindu ways of living, this thesis is concerned
specifically with roles of Hindu women. It is believed that in Ancient India (3200 -2500 B.C.)
the Caste system was not practiced. At that time learned men and women had varied occupations.
Women were considered equal to men in intellect.

“But in order to protect
this universe He, the most
resplendent one, assigned
separate (duties and)
occupations to those who
sprang from his mouth,
arms, thighs, and feet.”

A woman at that time would have had the independence to make her own
choices about marriage, parties to attend, competitions to take part in and
people to socialise with (Thind, as cited in Mahey, 2003). The equal status
between men and women, however, changed with the addition of Hindu
scriptures such as the Vedas, Upanishads and the Manusmriti. (Mahey, 2003)
The Manusmriti or The Laws of Manu offers valuable perspectives.
Considered an important and authoritative book on Hindu law , the
Manusmriti “acknowledges and justifies the Caste system as the basis of order
and regularity of society” (BBC, 2017). It articulates the rules and regulations
for Hindus, discusses ontological framings and includes several chapters on:
Initiation, Sacraments, Studentship, Householder, Marriage, Duties of Women,
Purification, Civil and Criminal Law.

Within the Indian Caste system there are four main Varna’s (types): Brahmin, Kshatriya,
Vaishya , Shudra. All are said to have originated from Brahma, The God of Creation.
Within each of the four Caste distinctions there are 2000 - 3500 sub Castes. In 1888, Georg
Bühler, a German scholar of Indian languages published a translated version of the Manusmriti
from Sanskrit to English. The section below quotes from Bühler’s translation of the Manusmriti,
help to detail several main tenets that ground Hindu belief structures and that also have
implications on social relations and political structures.
In this statement “He” refers to Lord Brahma, the creator God. Due to his elevated status as
an abstract and metaphysical entity Lord Brahma does not appear in Hindu myths where Gods
take on humanly forms (Cartwright, 2015). The separations of duties and occupations that are
specific to sections of the Caste system and implied in this quote include: the Brahmanas, the
Kshatriya, the Vaisya, the Sudra (See Fig.1)
88. “To Brahmanas he assigned teaching and studying (the Veda), sacrificing for their own
benefit and for others, giving and accepting (of alms)”
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REMOVED DUE TO COPYRIGHT ISSUES
Image of Lord Brahma, the God of Creation.
Image shows the different caste groups
originating from differnt parts of Brahma's body.

Fig. 1: Origin of Caste System

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93. “As the Brahmana sprang from (Brahman’s) mouth, as he was the first-born … he is by right
the lord of this whole creation.”
The Brahmanas are designated with a task of being in charge of learning and teaching the sacred
law. No other Caste member can adopt this duty. As such this Caste is considered the most
powerful Caste.
89. “The Kshatriya he commanded to protect the people, to bestow gifts, to offer sacrifices, to
study (the Veda), and to abstain from attaching himself to sensual pleasures.”

“A wanton woman
is a blazing fire...she is
the sharp edge of the razor;
she is posion, a serpent,
and death all in one.”

The Kshatriyas are designated to be the kings, rulers, warriors and
administrators. “It was paramount for a Kshatriya to be learned in weaponry,
warfare, penance, austerity, administration, moral conduct, justice, and ruling.”
(Joshi, 2017)
90. The Vaisya to tend cattle, to bestow gifts, to offer sacrifices, to study (the
Veda), to trade, to lend money, and to cultivate land.
The Vaishyas consisted of agriculturists, money lenders and traders. Historically,
cattle rearing was also an esteemed occupation. The Vaishyas were expected
to work closely with administrators to improve quality of life for all of society
(Joshi, 2017).
91. One occupation only the lord prescribed to the Sudra, to serve meekly even
these (other) three Castes.

The Manusmriti does not describe the duties of the Sudra in a positive way. Having emerged
from the feet of Brahma, the Sudras are designated to a life of service to the other three Castes:
Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas.
Apart from the four Caste distinctions described above, there are further gradations of hierarchy
and responsibility within Hindu society that have been delineated over time. Brahma also
articulates divisions based on gender. These are referred to in other sections of the Manusmriti.
According to a story in the Hindu Epic, Mahabharata, one day the Gods plead to Brahma
worried that men could one day become too powerful and challenge their reign. In response and
as a counter to this possibility Brahma created woman.
“A wanton woman is a blazing fire...she is the sharp edge of the razor; she is poison, a serpent,
and death all in one.” (Cartwright, 2015).
In addition to delineations based on caste and gender is a segregation of a group of people
completely outside of the system - the Untouchables. Members of this non Caste are treated as
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pariahs because they are forced to remove human waste and animal carcasses (Queen, 2008).
Also referred to as the Dalit to mean "broken people". (NCDHR, n.c) In the 1920’s Dr. B.R
Ambedkar was the first Untouchable to finish junior school. He went on to gain degrees
in social sciences and law from Columbia University and London School of Economics.
Ambedkar was instrumental in spearheading the civil rights movement for Untouchables.
Situated outside the Caste System,
Dalits form seventeen percent of the Indian population (NCDHR, n.c) and are officially given the
name of Scheduled Castes. Today, India’s reservation policy or “quota system” reserves a certain
percentage of seats in public funded colleges and elected assemblies for Dalits and Indigenous
populations or scheduled tribes. (A.R, 2013). According to the law, dominant Castes are no longer
able to legally force Dalits to perform any “polluting” occupations. Despite this these are still the
prevailing occupations of Dalits who are regularly “threatened with physical abuse and social
boycotts for refusing to perform demeaning tasks” (NCDHR).
Dalits are also affected by a plethora of societal based regulations that affect their conduct
in public. The National Campaign of Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR) website lists types of
Untouchability practices and restrictions that are still unofficially at play in Indian society:
• Separate glasses for Dalits in village tea stalls
• Discriminatory seating arrangements and separate utensils in restaurants
• Segregation in seating and food arrangements in village functions and festivals
• Prohibited from wearing sandals or holding umbrellas in front of dominant Caste members
• Devadasi system - the ritualized temple prostitution of Dalit women
• Prohibited from entering dominant Caste homes
• Prohibited from riding a bicycle inside the village
• Prohibited from using common village path
• No access to village’s common/public properties and resources (wells, ponds, temples, etc.)
• Segregation (separate seating area) of Dalit children in schools
• Prohibited from contesting in elections and exercising their right to vote
• Forced to vote or not to vote for certain candidates during the elections
• Prohibiting from hoisting the national flag during Independence or Republic days
• Substandard wages
• Bonded Labor
• Face social boycotts by dominant Castes for refusing to perform their “duties”
Divisions and rules not only happen between Castes. As detailed above different expectations are
set for different genders (men and women). In the Dalits’ case, this is particularly notable. Human
Rights Watch (2014) states that India is home to 100 Million Dalit women noting that while
laws to protect them exist, these are rarely implemented. “The reality of Dalit women and girls is
one of exclusion and marginalization, which perpetuates their subordinate position in society and
increases their vulnerability, throughout generations” (Manjoo as cited in Human Rights Watch).
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As Hinduism is the most widely practiced religion in India, the discussions on Caste are
relevant because it is the most deep rooted system to exist in our country. The section below will
discuss the duties of Hindu women detailed within the Manusmriti. Using passages from the
Manusmriti I will draw connections between the laws within the book and examples of women’s
rights and duties in the contemporary Indian Context.

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visualisation of a village:
means of explaining
Walter Benjamin (as cited in The Pearl Diver, 2016) defines storytelling as one of the oldest forms
of communication. It does not convey information as such, but provides it with a storyteller’s
point-of-view, so that information becomes an experience –and the storyteller’s handprint a part
of the story like that of a potter’s on a pot. (Benjamin as cited in Pearl Diver, p. 9) Right after
high school, I pursued theatre travelling to various cities throughout India telling stories through
poetry, prose, in different languages and often through the language of silence. It is magical to see
how quickly imaginations can be transported and everything is believable; no matter how old the
audience was, the result was always the same - fascination. I have brought stories and their telling
into the way I design experiences - it has trickled into my work in the studio.
The following section discusses my material exploration that has been strengthened through the
art of storytelling and sets up the foundation for my final piece.
The mind immediately starts to make mental notes of differences in a new place. Mine was hard
at work when I first moved to Vancouver. Apart from the obvious ones like what sides people
drive cars on – the first thing I noticed was diversity. In the transit in Vancouver you can hear at
least five different languages, people speaking to relatives, catching them up on what their day was
like. People from different nationalities all coexisting, all making their way to or from somewhere,
making space for someone to exist. This was new to me, something that I didn’t often see in
India, I was constantly noticing differences, whether it was education, child rearing practices or
the values people had. With regard to my course, I was clear from the very beginning that my
project would be situated in the Indian context – but what did that mean to me?
In the studio, we participated in bi-weekly peer reviews. After a first taste of review (of my
own work), I realised that most of my time and energy was spent contextualising and clarifying
(through discussion) systems that were alien to my peers. I needed to find a more efficient means
to communicate - a shorthand of sorts. I decided to visually represent life in a typical Indian
village as a means of opening up and inviting others to consider the context I was trying to
address.
Lisa Grocott (2012) notes that figuring is a design-led research strategy which enables and
amplifies the back talk of designing in a research context. Grocott has identified that figuring
allows for the negotiation of complex ideas, that it is a useful strategy for drawing attention to the
often-times tacit process of designing (Grocott, 2012, p. 3). The work I took on with visualizing
a village, and that I will discuss below draws on this insight.
I attached two discarded curtains together and placed them on the floor. The long stretch of
cloth blocked off the entrance to my studio space, as if to say – I’m still trying to figure this out. I
demarcated sections on the cloth - using discarded textiles + found materials - to create/map out
a typical Indian village. I used discarded styrofoam boxes to represent structures for homes.
Dolls, to represent human forms, were made using stuffing and held together with discarded
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fabric, stitched with long running stitches in a haphazard way.
This done, I began my mapping at one end of the cloth on my studio floor. “This.” I thought to
myself would be the location for the homes of the out Castes or Dalits. Closer to the centre of
the cloth would be a government school - again not a very impressive building, usually just a
single block with classrooms and students sitting on the floor in front of a blackboard,
but separated nonetheless from the Dalits homes by a fence.” (See Fig.2)

Reality
In a paper that discusses a village in the state of Uttar Pradesh, researcher Samsher Singh
observed the disparity between the homes of Dalit and non-Dalits of the region(2015). Singh
goes on to note that the homes of the Tyagi’s and Dheemar’s (upper Caste) have pucca homes
are built in concrete, and have access to drainage systems. Unlike the homes of the Chamar and
Balmiki’s (Dalit) that are situated in the floodplain, these homes are built on elevated land that
are protected during one monsoon season. In this case the Tyagi’s and Dheemar’s (upper Caste)
also have access to a Hindu temple, a government ration store and piped water. The Dalit, in
contrast, have no street light and hardly any open spaces. The Chamar (Dalit) settlement in
Saaraspur has neither electricity distribution poles nor piped drinking water supplies (Singh,
2015, p. 128).
Back to my own storytelling…
Outside the school would be an Anganwadi (a crèche for small children), and further along,
on the other side of the cloth, the homes of the upper Caste and alongside that, the homes of
the other Castes. Further on a village well, a hospital, merchants and their shops. The common
meeting place for men in many Indian villages is a spot to smoke the hookah - under the shade
of a large tree. The women, in my narrative, on my cloth, would catch up on each others lives
while working collectively, collecting water from a well or tanker or while washing clothes on
the river bank. These details arranged, I moved to another storytelling tool. On a spinwheel I
wrote the names of the main Caste demarcations in Hindu society that determines geographical
position and status: Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra and Dalits, the outcastes. However for
the storytelling, my intent was to use the spin wheel to help viewers navigate the extremities in
village life, specifically between the upper and lower Castes.
If the wheel landed to the position of Brahmins - they could enter temples, access all the services
within the village like the hospital, markets and temples. And when the wheel landed on Dalits,
access to the village became difficult. Relegated to the perimeters, they are not allowed access to
the village well, places of worship and must take off their slippers if they cross paths with upper
caste folks. The reason for visualising Caste within a village was simply because geographical and
social boundaries are relatively distinct when compared to cities, where populations are more
homogenized owing to lack of space and becoming crowded.
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Fig. 2: Visualisation of a village, version one

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Before I formally introduced my visualization of a village I noticed that people in the studio were
already curious and wanted to know what the scene on the floor was about. It became my way of
getting to know peers in my new environment at Emily Carr. People would tell me about forms
of segregation amongst people in their home countries. Below is an exchange between a senior
graduate student and myself:

Fig. 3: Screenshot of email correspondence with senior at Emily Carr

Later on, I reworked the visualisation of the village for an open studio presentation. This time my
village was composed on a large piece of a cardboard (instead of cloth). Rather than situated on
the floor I brought the ‘village’ level
higher up on a table and off of the
floor. (See Fig.4) The interaction
between people and myself were very
different in the two iterations. In the
first, both parties were down on the
floor. As the storyteller both of my
hands were occupied - sometimes
moving the rag doll to the school then
lifting it up from there and moving it
into the Brahmins house or the village
center - and sometimes gesturing
towards a part of the village.
Fig. 4: Open studio visualisation of the village
The listener was far more involved in this first version when they had a birds eye view of the
set-up. The second version of the village visualization, in contrast had a museum quality to it. It
provided a more objective view - like a doll house, which mostly you don’t touch. Both the listener
and myself tended to stand and view from afar. In retrospect, both iterations were crucial for my
process allowing me to understand the best means of offering up a space for engagement.

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Noticing: Summer Felt Dolls
As discussed at the onset, in the note to the reader and my introduction my work began
concentrating on child safety. In summer 2017 while working on a probe, which consisted of
a card sorting exercise, a postcard exercise, an assembling exercise (with felt dolls) and a semistructured interview.
(Ref to Appx B)
Out of the three components, the assembling of the felt dolls catapulted me forward to my next
phase through a specific insight that changed my path. I had been interacting with the tactility
of the felt material, and then watched the laser cutting machine transform it into dolls which
I then packed to send to various NGO’s. When the probes were returned and through the
assessment process, I was looking for very specific answers to the questions I had posed.
And so, when the clothed doll flipped on my table to reveal the image of what looked like
an undressed child.

Fig. 5: Noticing flipped dolls

I finally saw in front of me what I had missed seeing because I was looking for something else.
I speak to how gestures act as essential pauses in contemplating uneasy experiences and wondered
what role the designed object played in meaning making and thinking through artefacts. Up
until this point, my approach was to inform through discourse but what if the artefact presented
questions about uneasy topics, to the people who engaged with it, removing the designer from the
equation? The doll that fell on its undressed side opened up a set of possibilities: What is the role
of the designed object in presenting opportunities that move away from possible futures towards
preferable ones. The doll pushed me towards observing and thinking about the role of the object
as a tiny provocation. How could I amplify this for myself: what was I trying to get at? How
may I use design to be effective? in the context I was trying to address. Remembering objects are
everywhere, sometimes ones that are familiar or remembered have an equally strong capacity to
offer up a new route. Thinking about provocations visuals and gestures, I remembered something
from life back home, a transient but relevant one.
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Remembering
The man who ironed our clothes back in India, had a makeshift shop on wheels, parked under
coconut trees. In addition to clothes folded in piles, his shop also featured the most recent film
magazines. Read on his breaks he would stick up pictures of his favourite actresses on the walls
of his mobile shop. Add to this the visual narrative of the street - the walls of neighborhoods
filled with multiple copies of the latest commercial hit film - content notating particular types of
“acceptable” narratives. “Film in India is a prolific and inundating medium. Film stars’ faces adorn
fruit-juice stands, and film music reverberates in shops, public buses, taxis, and auto-rickshaws.
Indian film directors and actors continue to use the spectacular, visceral, and social appeal of
Indian cinema to their economic advantage.” (Jaikumar, 2003) Remembering how it felt
walking on those streets and passing by frozen expressions stretched on thin sheets of
newsprint paper – of seductive actresses admired by dashing hero’s for passer-by’s to ogle
at - offensive? provocative even. I felt a need to amplify this visceral experience, to set in my
current context of Vancouver. When I recalled the sheer volume of this imagery and the sizes of
the posters, banners and cut - outs of film stars - I wondered about this dissonance. There is a
dramatic shift in the expectations we have for women on screen (ones that we enjoy watching)
and the rules set up for women who are closer to home. The next section, will talk briefly about
this double standard which is perplexing even to me,
as an Indian woman.

REMOVED DUE TO COPYRIGHT ISSUES

Fig. 6: Popular culture: Film posters in a street in
Madurai, a city in India & life size cut outs of actors
by a Railway station.
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context: expectations of women
of good and bad girls
“164. She must always be cheerful, clever in (the management of her) household affairs, careful in
cleaning her utensils, and economical in expenditure.” (from the Manusmriti )
The patriarchy has ingrown systems that afford men the capacity to wield control through force,
direct pressure, tradition, ritual, law, language, customs, etiquette and education - over those
subordinate to them, like women and children. It defines the roles that women should and should
not play. (Mirkin, 1984, p. 42)
Control is levied on womens demeanour and conduct, both indoors and outdoors. This for
women speaks to a culture of constant surveillance. “Local opinion states that any woman who
even slightly asserts herself and voices an opinion rather than meekly accepting male advice
or (in effect) his “orders,” must be dealt with using ridicule, denigration, and finally violence.
Confronting such a challenge, the men quoted an oft-repeated proverb that goes as follows: “
nāngī büci samte ünci” (“a shameless [lit. naked] woman is always superior as you cannot shame
her any further”) (Chowdhry, 2015, p.10)
“213. It is the nature of women to seduce
men in this (world); for that reason the wise
are never unguarded in (the company of )
females.” (from the Manusmriti )
This characterisation of women as
seductresses is common in popular narratives
and has become a part of pop culture in
India. Fig. 7 spin off this familiar idea to
depict a sanskaari woman i.e. one who is
traditional and rooted to her culture as
opposed to the bekaar or useless woman.
One who is modern, opinionated and wears
clothes that go against what it means to
be traditional. (See fig. 8) Visuals like these
have been co opted to challenge skewed
expectations where graphic elements and
sarcasm are used to make a point.

Fig. 7: Popular Culture: An illustration that describes the qualities of a Traditional
versus Modern woman, from the book Oh Naari So Sanskari, (Hardikar. A, 2017).
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Fig. 8: Popular Culture: A Bad Girl poster by students of an Indian University,
( Jawed. F, Saxena. S, Kothari. S, & Pradhan. J, 2015)

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She went out at night, hence she was asking for it.
December 2012, was a dark day for the twenty three year old Medical student who was gang
raped on a moving bus in New Delhi, the capital of India. For weeks, following that incident
there was uproar amongst the public and they had had enough - protests, marches, candle light
vigils and seething anger; it was one of those incidents you couldn’t shake off just owing to how
violent the crime was. But at the same time there were reports of politicians and the defence
lawyer on the case, who made knee jerking comments blaming Nirbhaya (alias) and her parents
for allowing her to go out and watch a movie at night.

ML Sharma the defence lawyer compared women to “flowers and diamonds” suggesting that
if you leave precious things on a street, eventually dogs will come to sniff them out. But it this
comment of his in the documentary on Nirbhaya - India’s Daughter which reflect the troubling
ideologies of men like him - “We have the best culture. In our culture, there is no space for a
woman.” (Mirelli, The Quartz, 2015)
The sections above have illustrated the links between historical, spiritual conventions and
situations faced by women in the contemporary Indian context. There are numerous factors that
determine whether a woman’s life could be filled with opportunities, respect and growth. Archaic
practices and cultural beliefs that are deeply entrenched in religious Hindu dogmas such as those
illustrated in the Manusmriti play in to this.
As such, Hinduism can be said to perpetuate the notion of Patriarchy. This is reinforced through
inherent belief systems that enable men to retain superior positions in society and supports
the subordination of women through control, ownership, socialization and the continual male
dominated transfer of power - from father to husband to son.
Assumed behaviours that exist within families relegate women to particular occupations and
positions in society and also provide openings for a culture of violence born out of and propped
up by misogynistic prejudices.

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context: expectations of women
of fathers & Marriage
“148. In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord
is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent.”
In many conservative Hindu families, men have rights over a woman's conduct inside and outside
the home . Steve Derne (1994) professor of sociology conducted qualitative interviews in the late
80’s with forty nine upper Caste Hindu men in Varanasi and noted restrictions levied by men on
women.
“A family’s honor is confirmed by a daughter’s marriage into a family of appropriate status.
To protect marriage prospects for their daughters, men carefully monitor their
unmarried daughters’ behaviour to limit their interactions with unrelated men.
Nandu Gupta, an interviewed candidate who heads a nuclear family is careful
to limit his unmarried daughters interactions outside the home -“the outside is
closed to them. Of course, they can go to school with friends, but they do not
go alone.” (Derne, 1994, p. 207)

let him wed a female
free from bodily defects...gait
of a Hamsa...small teeth
and soft limbs.

The father’s role in Hindu culture is significant. As the quote above
demonstrates, it is tightly connected to patriarchy. Patriarchy can be described
as a type of male-dominated family where women, younger men, children,
slaves and domestic servants were all under the rule of the dominant male, the
patriarch. The term can mean both the “rule of men” and the “role of the father.”
(Rubin, 1975; Engles, 1977) (Omvedt, 1986, p. 31).

Adrienne Rich, American poet and radical feminist calls this “power of the fathers” as a difficult
concept to grasp. It is diffused and concrete, symbolic and literal at the same time. No matter if a
woman lives in purdah, drives a truck or is the single breadwinner, she is constantly living under
the “power of the fathers” and is only able to access privilege or influence based on what the
patriarchy is willing to afford her. (Mirkin, 1984, p. 42)
“10. Let him wed a female free from bodily defects, who has an agreeable name, the (graceful)
gait of a Hamsa (swan) or of an elephant, the moderate (quantity of ) hair on the body and on the
head, small teeth, and soft limbs.” (from the Manusmriti )
Srilakshmi Ramakrishnan (2012) a scholar in the Anthropology of Education discusses the
Matrimonial advertisement, which according to her are - “formulaic texts of identity that follow
a specific schematic structure and are replete with culturally nuanced lexical items referencing
Caste/Sub-Caste, patrilineal descent, and planetary positions at birth.” In her paper, she offers
an in-depth analysis of a specific matrimonial advertisement by - “situating the corpus within
a specific sociocultural context and then explicating the cultural significance of its constituent
lexicon.”
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Below is an example of a ‘Brides Wanted’ column from the weekend edition of The Hindu,
a popular newspaper in Southern India. (Ramakrishnan, 2012)

Newspapers in India will often print double spreads dedicated to Matrimonials like these.
Beyond details about the eligible people the information is further subdivided into Caste &
sub Caste. Parents of potential bride and grooms will scour the morning paper identifying and
circling ads that match with the qualities of their own offspring. ‘Koundinya’ - refers to the gotra,
or lineage; ‘Sadhyam’ refers to the “nakshatra” or specific constellation in the sky at the time of
birth. Parents will list in these ads the most compatible “nakshatra” that will assure a perfect
match.
According to Deignan (as cited in Ramakrishnan, 2012) ‘Clean is used to describe behaviour, talk
and texts which do not deal with sexual desire’ (p. 36). In matrimonials, ‘clean habits’ indicate
that the groom does not indulge in the four common vices typically associated with the phrase
– smoking, alcohol, gambling, or women.” Ramakrishnan also points out that the order of the
descriptors that the grooms side is seeking in a bride is key. She needs to be light skinned in
complexion (See Fig 8) and at least match the education level of the groom, usually professional
degrees like law, medicine and engineering are preferred as they are “steady” careers, over and
above this she is required to be “traditional” and “home-loving” which means that she should be
able to cook, clean, keep a good home and manage daily life, be simple and not overly ambitious.

REMOVED DUE TO COPYRIGHT ISSUES
Advertisement depicting a popular Indian Fairness cream brand
that promises to lighten skin colour and pigmentation.

Fig. 9: Popular Culture: Advertisements like these promote fairness creams, which are very
popular in India, because dark skin is stigmatised.

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The daily life of a woman in India is punctuated by sets of codes - by both formal and informal
expectations and restrictions on behavior. As noted above, she must be cheerful in composure
and domesticated. She is also characterised as having an innate nature to seduce men, as such she
must always be controlled.
When we juxtapose this to how daily life in public spaces (and in the ironing cart) are taken over
by sexualised and raunchy images of women, it creates a cognitive dissonance that needs to be
further examined. Beyond the posters on the streets, the sheer number of Bollywood films an estimated 1,500-2,000 films a year - more than anywhere else in the world. (The Economist,
n.d., 2017).
This provides confusing representations of women that is significant and pervasive. Perhaps
identifying themes connected to the representation of women, Caste, class and gender politics
within popular culture might help the development of my own work. I decided to look further
into aspects of Indian Film. I took it upon myself to critically watch the following films: Kabhi
Khushi Kabhi Gham (K3G), Masaan, and Udaan (See appx c)
I isolated some of my observations connected to the patriarchy at play in the film genre and drew
out examples cited in studies by sociologists and historians situated in the real, lived everyday
Indian context. I responded by making video prototypes, these will be discussed further on.

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on indian film:
and the status quo
Films in India can be divided into two distinct types: masala films and parallel cinema.
According to Wikipedia, Parallel cinema originated as a movement in the 1950’s in the state of
West Bengal as an alternative to mainstream cinema. (Parallel Cinema, n.d., para. 1)
In The Hindu, a popular and daily newspaper in Southern India, Srikanth Srinivasan notes
the objectives of parallel cinema center on a ‘fixation on social critique’ it is often referred
to as ‘complaint box cinema’. In some filmmaking circles parallel cinema productions are
predominantly funded by state-owned institutions. “Many of these films are first and foremost
screeds against feudalism, corruption, nepotism, patriarchy and religious intolerance.
More radical, politically-engaged ones deal with modernisation and class warfare and regularly
lean towards the left of centre” (Srinivasan, 2012). Parallel cinema films consistently reject
mainstream styles and tropes such as song and fight sequences. These films have an“affinity for
rural settings or working class”. They use method actors, deploy close-ups, lengthy shots, minimal
use of musical scores, toned down colour palettes, and a formalist approach to composition which
occasionally involves experimental editing patterns (Srinivasan, 2012)
Masala films sit in contrast to parallel cinema. A masala is commonly known as a blend of
spices and this mixture alludes to the presence of a variety of song and dance sequences shot in
destinations abroad, some drama, a lot of romance, lavish weddings and finally an item number to
top it off.
Item numbers play a significant role in Masala films, especially since the early 90’s. Item songs
consists of lewd/brash lyrics, a woman in very minimal clothes gyrating in a sea of men ogling
at her and making vulgar gestures. These songs are composed to be catchy and make it to
the promos - as a way to entice viewers into buying tickets to the show. Needless to say most
commercial films insert these into their narrative.
Below is a translation of a popular item song - Fevicol Se
Angadaiyan leti hoon main jab zor-zor se
When I stretch my body with huge motions
Oh aah ki awaaz hai aati har aur se
I can hear wolf whistles from all corners
Main toh chalun is kadar, Ki mach jaaye re gadar
I walk in such a manner, It creates a storm
Hosh wale bhi madhosh aaye re nazar
Even those in senses seem intoxicated
Mere photo ko mere photo ko seene se yaar
Take my picture close to your heart and stick it with Fevicol.
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As I critically assessed the masala and parallel film contributions to Indian popular culture I was
struck by the extent and overt illustration of the Indian patriarchal system. Social expectations
and stringent boundaries that are set for women in reality and life portrayed in the visual
medium of film and anomalies that I could pull on for later interventions.are not always
consistent. This creates an odd tension in everyday life.
The following section will detail two prototypes that I created to try and to sort things out.
I recognized disparity between women in film - I prototyped to see if there were patterns and
anomalies.

REMOVED DUE TO COPYRIGHT ISSUES
Image of popular Bollywood Actress Kareena Kapoor,
picturised in an item song

Fig. 10: A still from the song Fevicol Se, described above.

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on indian film:
and the implications
Film Posters: Video Prototype I - View here: https://youtu.be/Kj3hcUKNc0c
In early Fall 2017, stemming from my own recollections of growing up and watching films,
I decided to delve into the visual content (and analysis) of film posters. The process of searching
out these posters was not pleasant - “I opened incognito windows and typed in a series of
keyword phrases: ”sexy posters from bollywood, raunchy women in indian films to top 10 hottest
film posters from India”. The images I was faced with on the screen were perturbing and left
me feeling sick to my stomach. I wanted to translate this irksome feeling. I chose to create
a response. Others have observed that Indian films have the capacity to act as an inundating
medium (Jaikumar’s 2003). This resonated for me. I chose a series of film posters that depicted
underlying themes of lust, sex, play, romance, angst - all aspect that Indian families frequently
reject in real everyday life. Using these I then began to arrange them on a digital software.
Applying the basic film editing tool - iMovie I stitched thirty five odd film poster images
together. The software has an option to direct the viewer's eye as each image transitions. I used
this to my advantage, manipulating which aspects would be highlighted. For example: in one
poster the man is holding the woman in a way where she is visibly uncomfortable - the viewer
first sees her expression then the camera pans to his gaze, as he looks at her longingly. I linked
these transitioning visuals to the audio of the Konnakol. This classical South Indian mode of
vocal percussion - ta ka di mi, ta ki ta tha offered up a particular beat and timing that helped
with the transitions, a traditional auditory context and a particular type of racing rhythm that
seemed appropriate.
“It’s just romance!” - exclaimed a male classmate after I showed the video to a group of peers in
the studio. Another colleague chimed in noting that posters from western culture and films were
even worse. It bothered me that in a group of four men and one woman no one thought there was
anything explicit with the images, and that my assemblage was viewed as just another collection
of romantic gestures. I began to question myself - was I being “hyper-sensitive” and overly
reacting to cues around me? I was not interested in a competition to see which country had
the raunchiest film posters. Rather, I wanted to incite a discussion about the normalisation of
these images that objectified women and the means used to do so: repetition, zooming, panning.
This particular studio discussion occurred at mid section of my Master studies. While it did not
achieve what I had intended - it is located close to a key transition point in my to discussion
about the other elements of material practice.
This section has outlined roles and expectations of Indian women through the review and
reflection of aspects of visual popular culture connected to blockbuster masala films and parallel
cinema in India.

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Shame O’Clock - Video Prototype II, view here: https://youtu.be/cOZDo6KEk7Q
Nicole Wilson (2013) in her paper around arranged marriages talks about the system that still
exists in some parts of India and specifically cites a real life example of Priya a girl who went
against the wishes of her family and married outside her Tamil heritage - “According to cultural
stereotypes, the fact that middle-class Brahmin Priya had chosen what is locally called a “love
marriage” was perhaps more surprising than it would have been among other social groups. Tamil
cinema and television often portray “love marriages” as predominantly occurring among two
particular societal categories—those who are “modernized” and “Westernized” (that is, immodest,
unchaste and hence, un-Indian), and those who are lower class and caste. In their favoring of
“love marriages,” these two social groupings are also then conceived of as discourteous towards
cultural laws of parental duty and filial devotion” (Wilson, 2013, pg 46, para 2)
The social expectations, differences in upbringing and rules applied for boys and girls can be
stark in India. Rather than being the exception they are more frequently the norm. I had been
urged by numerous people to find a means to illustrate and convey this aspect of Indian society
to people unfamiliar with this context (in my current location context at a North American
University of Art + Design). I chose to work with gifs from popular Indian films. My intent was
to create a series of alternate messages for others using these short clips. Indian parents 101
features an analog, cardboard clock, deployed as an indicator of the significant role ‘time of day’
plays in the lives of Indian girls who are taught to self regulate and behave in specific ways on a
daily basis. A very loud, tense background score that is popular in Indian TV series, interspersed
with the ticking of a clock sets the tone. Bold type titles over the video images offer up common
phrases and sayings often heard in Indian households. When a girl leaves her house at 5 PM,
the neighbours raise eyebrows and wonder where she’s going. A coercive statement commonly
deployed by parents with children “log kya kehenge?” - what will the neighbours say/think? covers
the image on the screen. Maintenance of image and place in society via constraining rules applied
within the home and skewed reciprocal notions of respect and care/a children's best interest is
mocked.
As the video progresses and it gets “later” in the day based on Indian standards of time are alluded
to - it becomes harder for girls to gain permission to do anything that requires being outdoors.
Eventually the video ends with a change in scene where the brother of the female narrator is
out at midnight for a drive with his friends and her parents are rejoicing. Even though vastly
exaggerated, this polarity does creep into some Indian households where is it reasoned that a girl
can bring dishonour to the family by getting teased, raped, assaulted or kidnapped.
Lankanlal Mishra a respondent in Derné’s (1994) interview spoke to the general restrictions
for women, especially married women in his joint-family household - “women here are not left
independent. Women are not free. They are under control.” (Derne, 1994, p. 208)
The fourth wall in film, is an invisible wall that separates actors on screen from their audiences
(Wikipedia, N.D.) - this gives ordinary people a break from their own realities, it gives them
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a two -to three hours to imagine themselves elsewhere in: the homes of the rich, at a lavish
wedding, in a fancy car, in a foreign country- singing and dancing in sub zero temperatures.
While it does all of these things, popular and masala films contain item songs that commodify
women and film makers use the songs for their own benefit - because men will definitely come
to a film that guarantees a dancing girl in skimpy clothes. Families watching these films are
thoroughly entertained however when their daughter wants to wear a sleeveless top or go out to a
club with her friends, she is either going to do it on the sly or not go at all. Conservative parents
will often be heard saying “yeh sab filmo mein hi hota hai!” - “ all this is okay and happens only in
films, not real life!” Almost all Bollywood films rely on heavy doses of romance but in some real
life scenarios- dating and love marriages are a strict no- no - because what if your daughter or son
fell in love with someone from a different caste or religion? - nothing could bring more shame on
to the family than that. (ref to The Contextualizing section)
As long as Indian families do not object to rules imposed on women by the patriarchy, we will
continue to see limited and binary portrayals of females. Women will continue to be cornered
into roles such as the housewife, expected to keep families together and constantly distinguishing
between the good and bad girl. This made me question, if films like the ones I have been studying
intensely keep being made and consumed by unquestioning audiences how do we introduce,
incite ways for audiences to critique what they are watching, what they are experiencing? The last
section of this thesis is an attempt to create a space for such dialogue to ensue.

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4. play it
4.1 the game
4.2 the game: and chance
4.3 the game: and choice
4.4 snakes.ladders.choice
4.5 the cards: choices to be made

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the game

The insights gathered from understanding the historical and cultural codes of India, coupled with
the reflective nature of my making in the studio have all informed the most recent set of design
interventions. In the subsequent section I will take the reader through the significant examples
of Snakes & Ladders and its origin in the Indian game of Gyan Chaupar. After which the reader
will get an understanding of the added elements in my version of Snakes and Ladders, followed
by examples of user testing, recommendations, insight gained and future directions.
Rules of the game
Traditionally a multiplayer game S & L begins at the bottom left corner on a grid like board
game, made up of hundred squares. Chance plays a huge role in this narrative. A dice is used
to allow players to move forward one square at a time. The game mechanics allow the player to
advance towards the finish line. However, if the player hits the head of the snake, they slide down
a few rows - sometimes, all the way to the bottom. The number of snakes to ladders is always 2:1
- therefore there are more chances of sliding to the bottom.
Historical Perspective
Keeper of Eastern Art at the Ashmolean Museum, Andrew Topsfield (1985) states that the
“simplified and secularised” version of Snakes and Ladders has its roots in the ancient game
of Gyan Chaupar - “was played in several sectarian versions in northern and western India
during the 18th and 19th centuries.” Further, Topsfield describes the earliest Gyan Chaupar
board game to be an - eighty four square board, painted on cloth and located in the Museum of
Indology in Jaipur, India. (Topsfield, 1985, P. 213 -214)
Gyan Chaupar originates from a society and a time where the objective of freeing oneself from
the shackles of humanly concerns was a key means to progress towards moksha, also known
as liberation. While things have shifted this perspective continues today in certain segments
of indian society - notably amongst conservative Hindus who believe in the cycle of rebirth
(Stober 1990, Singh & Haigh 2015)
“Pilgrim-like, each player progresses fitfully from states of vice, illusion, karmic impediment, or
inferior birth at the base of the playing area to ever higher states of virtue, spiritual advancement,
the heavenly realms, and (in the ultimate, winning square) liberation (moksa) or union with the
supreme deity.” (Topsfield 2006) He also mentions that the playing areas of the boards from the
18th and 19th century were meticulously painted and made of materials ranging from cloth,
paper, inlaid wood and embroidered on cloth. According to him, there are “Three main sectarian
types are found: Jain and Hindu, each with their own variants, and, more rarely, a Sufi Muslim
version.”. (Topsfield, 2006, p. 143)

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Topsfield (1985) is of the opinion that - “the snakes and ladders device was a borrowing from
gyan chaupar, examples of which are likely to have been brought to England by returning colonial
families.” One of the first examples of an English game using the snakes and ladders device
was recorded in 1895 in a game called Kismet - which translates to destiny in arabic/persian.
Produced by the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, the squares had inscriptions of virtues
and vices, which had its roots in a different morality game. After the reign of Queen Victoria, the
inscriptions from the squares were removed and the playing area was also simplified. “An early
I920's board at the Bethnal Green Museum has a central illustration of a snake-charmer, a clear
allusion to the Indian origins of the game.” (Topsfield, 1985, P. 213 -214)

Fig. 11: Jain version Game of Snakes & Ladders. Gouache on cloth, India, 19th century

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Precedents
While it originated in India, the game of Snakes and Ladders has become iconic globally. It
is a visual trope of sorts made up of a set of easily recognisable symbolic forms, implied actions
and consequences. Over the past year, I have seen this format used as a tool for provocation in
different fields: Sakthi-Vidiyal an NGO in India that works with street children - redesigned
the whole board as a teaching tool to learn their rights as per the Convention on The Rights of
the Child by UNICEF. Michelle Nahanee, an Indigenous graphic designer and SFU Masters
scholar designed a game based on Snakes and Ladders to discuss the “Decolonisation of her
identity from an Indian girl to a Squamish Matriarch”. I saw value in building on this tactic
taken by others to broach topics and
concerns pertaining to rights and
assumed hierarchies. As a blueprint,
re-conceptualised, the game
could potentially act as a means to
nudge people to reconsider socially
‘acceptable” responses that subjugate
Indian women - to empathise with
and discuss the implications of the
small events, gestures, everyday
occurrences that act to subordinate.

Fig. 12: Sakthi Vidiyal's Child Rights Snakes & Ladders Poster Game

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the game:
and chance
Using the blueprint of this game as the jumping off point, I began with my first iteration using a
piece of cardboard. The artefact I developed was stripped of embellishments. The gameboard was
a rudimentary 4x4 grid painted with indian ink. Remembering that the contemporary version
of Snakes and Ladders rarely provided players with opportunities to linger, I decided to add a
set of “advantage” and “disadvantage” cards. The content of the cards had a bias based on my own
past personal experiences and reaction to explicit favouritism towards males that I was aware of,
growing up. Having been brought up in a fairly modern set - up, my brother and I were given
enough liberties to make our own choices. And for the most part we were allowed to be vocal
if we didn’t agree with our parents’ ways. It is important to note that my experiences of male
favouritism was a lot more subdued but this wasn’t/isn’t the case for other patriarchal families.

Insights:
The artefact and accoutrements were set but the mechanics were not decided. At this early stage
I also observed that people were not responding to the game in terms of of an end objective of
winning. It seemed, based on responses from others, that my focus should not be on “the winning”
but rather on the discussions along the way via the mechanisms of the game board. Colleagues
and peers who reviewed the game board asked me to consider the design of the cards
(See fig. 13 )- to highlight the separate voices in them. Since this first version of The Game
was designed as a “first response” to test the validity of the idea - the artefact wasn’t used as a
gameboard.

Fig. 13: First version of the advantage and disadvantage card, reactions of others to this first small scale
prototype exposed issues pertaining to clarity of voice and representation.

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Fig. 14: First iteration of The Game, prototyped on cardboard

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In the sections below I will illustrate and break down the nature of voices in the cards, and display
how user testing, peer reviews and my own reflection on earlier studio work shifted this initial
lense.

Fig. 15: Breakdown of voices in the Card

While patriarchal societies like India support the progress of men they can also hinder and limit
opportunities and potential to take on alternate, fulfilling routes through life. The card on the
left speaks to the latter perspective. There is pressure put on men to take on the role of family
provider. Faced with this many opt for careers that are stable and respected versus alternate
routes through life. Minor in comparison to the systemic oppression Indian women face must be
acknowledged. The card on the right depicts an alternate vantage point - the advantage afforded
to young men and boys in conservative indian homes, where their strength and growth
is privileged over that of girls of the same age.

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the game:
and choice
In order to engage with multiple perspectives and pulling on my past experience of the useful
nature of embodied participation (see section on the Visualisation of a village, where I moved
objects and dolls based conditions I had set on a floor artefact) I scaled up the the game board
to a 6 ft X 5 ft size and located it on the studio room floor. This time I taped down yellow hand
spun thread to a cement floor. (See fig. 16).
In the studio I began by introducing the
game to my peers ( fifteen Master of Design
students). As this version was intended as
a means to test some of the content and
wording of the cards the snakes and ladder
details were not included. In order to move
away from an introspective consideration
of the cards contents and as a way to set
the context prior to play I invited players to
read some of the disadvantage cards aloud.
This done, I then explained the basic rules of
play, the yarn grid on the floor had tape in
the centre of some squares to denote when
a player had to pick a card. Four of my peers
(two male and two female) volunteered to try
the game out. Another peer offered to roll
the dice on a computer program and I placed
myself near the players and the gameboard
holding the stack of disadvantage cards in
my hand. As the purpose of this round was to
to formulate more content for the advantage
cards, I only used disadvantage cards for play.
“5!” - my peer called out.
I motion with my hand towards the first
player to enter the grid. They do so, making
sure they are entering on the correct side,
from square number 1.
Fig. 16: Second iteration on the floor with a yarn grid

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I notice there is considerable suspense as the rest of the individuals in the studio watched from
the sidelines.
“3” - the second player had landed on a square with masking tape.
I stretch out the deck of disadvantage cards for Player 2. People lean in as this person reluctantly
picks a card from the top of the stack.

I hear a collective sigh from my watching peers, Player 2 remains standing still in the same square.
We have finished four rounds of play, nearing the end of the stack of cards, player 3 picks out this
card:

Disbelief - Really? “Are you serious?!” exclaims player 3, hands up in the air, there is a commotion
from amongst the observers in the studio - snorts and a few laughs indicative of a a sense of
incredulity at this statement. I had been interested to see how this card would be received by
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this international mix of designers outside of the Indian context. What appears odd to a set
of educated individuals in the Canadian context, however, is often the reality for young girls
walking to school in Indian communities.
“Meena (not her real name) didn't tell her parents when the older boys started harassing her on
the hour-long walk to school from her home in Madanpur Khadar, south Delhi – grabbing her
hand and shouting "kiss me" – because she knew she would get the blame, as if she had somehow
encouraged them. She was right: when her family found out, they banned her from going back to
school, worried about the effect on their "honour" if she was sexually assaulted.” Once removed
from school her parents decided to get her married, she was only 16 at the time. (Williams,
2013)
The scale of the iteration and the round of play offered insights - embodied actions and gestures
(See section on Embodied Knowledge and Gestures) by the individuals playing the game.
People’s reaction to being asked to move forward or backward on the grid depending on the
card, was evident: disappointment - at moving backward - pleasure at moving forward. Set in the
studio context, it is important to note that while the group was well aware of the nature of my
work most of the them were not from India. I was asking them to consider a set of cards drawn
from outside of their own lived experience - the Indian context. Additionally, and worthy of
note, when these individuals picked up cards that spoke to a gender they did not identify to in
real life -they were confronted with a perspective they were unused to. Their responses conveyed
this cultural and gender related distancing - exclamations connected to the absurdity and
unfamiliarity of the situation they were invited to consider.
Recommendations:
When all the players had finished the game i.e, exited the grid, we engaged in a short discussion
about their experience. Some of the feedback was centered around the content of the cards, and
a concern that some content sounded like over generalisations. As these initial cards were based
on my own personal experiences and on past discussions had with friends from India over an
extended period of time I did not have a means to back them up with facts and figures. Related
to this, other questions that arose included: Does contextual knowledge and lived experience need
to be backed up with theory to be legitimate? Where and how do we represent lived experiences
tacit forms of knowing. There was also a suggestion to include positive futures that could exist
within the game, moving women forward as a way to think about the present.
Insights:
Cards read out aloud brought about a fair degree of dramatization - and helped participants
differentiate between the voices (See fig. 15, break down of voices in The Game section) - moving
physically on a board as pawns in the game enabled participants to identify and empathise with
the characters on the cards. The playing of the game was helpful to me, enabling me to reconsider
a range of aspects pertaining to the game scenario: traditionally, in Snakes and Ladders once the
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first player leaves the board they are deemed the winner - why does the game cease to be after
this set of events? What happens to the players who are left behind on the board? What would
the game look like if the remaining players continued the board trajectory after the first player,
the second, the third have left the board? What would it mean to the last player left on the grid
to continue playing the game?

Fig. 17: Revised Cards for second iteration of the game

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snakes. ladders.
choice.
In the third testing phase of the game, four players (two males and two females) with little to
no context of the previous studio outcome were invited to play and provide feedback. A choice
was made to increase the size of the board and this time, to place it on muslin canvas. An 8x8
ft grid was stitched with a straight stitch machine. My intent to construct straight lines was
somewhat thwarted due to tension issues. The outcome was a grid made up of the lines where
not straight lines that had a squiggly low fidelity appearance. Numbers for the individual squares
were printed partly using a photo transfer technique and the rest were pasted on.
(See Fig. 19) To achieve a 3D effect the snakes were stitched on black and white printed cloth
and made in varying lengths. Ladders were represented with red wool. The cards were redesigned
to differentiate between the voices and the outcomes.
Before we began this iteration of the game, I chose to show my two video prototypes 1 & 2 ( see
section (on Indian film and the implications above) as a means of contextualizing my own work.
Unlike my immediate classmates, who had been “clued in” and had the advantage of months of
critique and discussion these individuals did not. I was unsure how much contextualisation was
needed in order for this group to understand the frame of reference within the cards.
Replicating an aspect of the traditional game, I offered the felt dolls (with gendered
embellishments) as markers/pawns to the players to pick from. The individuals who volunteered
to give feedback on this iteration of the game picked these markers at random, not correlating
them to their own identity. They set their chosen markers/pawns at the left hand base of the
cloth. The group sat on chairs around the the cloth game board that was spread out across two
desks The two stacks of advantage and disadvantage (A&D) cards were placed on the table close to
me. I rolled a digital dice on my computer and the game began. Following the role of the die the
players began to move through their maker/pawns dolls.

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Fig. 18: Images of the third iteration of the game
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Early on in the game, some players wanted to say something but were quietened by another
to compile all their feedback and discuss at the end of the game. A new set of rules was set.
Unwittingly this initiated a completely different tone of play from the previous test. It was quiet
- the players concentration - their thoughts - had become internal. The game ran for about thirty
minutes, longer than the previous test and longer than I had expected. One out of four players
was out of the game, very quickly. Outnumbered by the disadvantage cards, the advantage cards
ran out first.It was clear that this social scenario and the intent to keep playing the game until all
of the players had left the board was awkward.
Recommendations:
Despite the limitations of this version of the game the feedback from the players was very useful.
This is discussed below -

Step, Choose & Play, 2018

•

Consider renaming the two stacks of Advantage and Disadvantage cards to one stack of
cards labeled as Chance - allowing room for a discussion about the situation a (whether
not content on the card was a positive or a negative social assumption) If Advantage and
Disadvantage cards continue to be used care as to where the ladders and snakes are placed
on the board will be needed – for example: making sure that a ladder isn’t placed before a
disadvantage card where moving back would mean moving up on the board.

•

Finding a means to allow the players to decide where they move on the board would
potentially open up a means to empathise with the situation as opposed to being told
where to move.

•

The difficulty of the choice in the scenario needs to be reflected in the game; the game
mechanics need to display more difficulties. For example, if the card is about child 		
marriage then the outcome of landing on that card needs to reflect the gravity
of the situation.

•

Consider the possibility of starting the game genderless with the facilitator assigning
genders to the players which would only be known to the facilitator. This would means that
whenever a player landed on a chance card, the outcome would differ based on the gender.
But the player would have to consider which role/situation they had been placed into

•

Consider arranging the chance cards in a way that the events that occur during 		
prepubescent, pubescent, young adult, adult, elderly coincide with where you are
on the board. For ex: something that happens to you as a young adult would be placed in
the middle of the game. The scenarios in the cards are bordering on being stereotypical:
how can they be more nuanced?

p. 50

In addition to these points the players also questioned the audience this game was designed for.
I had originally intended Snakes and Ladders as a means to address the Indian context, ideally
amongst Indians, but feedback from this and the earlier iteration of the game make it clear
that it could be located in other cultural contexts as a way to understand human behaviour and
experience through others’ lived perspective, norms and beliefs. ‘Non-competitive play’ a term
coined by Anderson refers to an uncompetitive playing activity ; like playing with a doll house for
instance. (Anderson, 1988, p. 2)
Insights:
The rule of having a player who has left the board unable to re-enter meant that “the players outside of the board had to live through others experiences.” - said the player who
had gotten out first. ­However, situated as an observer the motivation for discussing the Caste
system, sexual violence, gender bias, and sexism is hard from this detached perspective of the
game. After the feedback from this peer group, I amalgamated the advantage and disadvantage
cards into one pack and shifted my referencing of these cards away from the notion of Chance
and referred to them as the Choice Cards. Additionally, in the revamped card the player would
see a spectrum of choice allowing them to decide on the degree of disadvantage or advantage
that they want to play with.

Fig. 19: Spectrum of Choice

According to Stephen Nachmanovitch musician, author and educator (2009), games are
usually built on the basis of non verbal meta communication. This term coined by Gregory
Bateson an English Anthropologist, Social scientist and Cyberneticist is relevant too. Bateson
noted that “a message can only be produced in some particular context and manner, thus implying
a relationship. Even a simple message like “please pass the salt,” said at dinner, implies some
relationship between the speaker and the hearer.” (Bateson as cited by Nachmanovitch,
2009)
For example: Cross your legs! Don’t you have any shame?! This implies that a girl sitting with her
legs apart is shameful and is inviting attention. Shame is often associated with bodily gestures in
Indian culture.

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the cards:
choices to be made
card 1: Gender Bias
According to Rao (As cited in Bhatia, H.M, 2007) The strong desire for male heirs within
Indian culture leads to bias in various aspects of life between boys and girls. This has been
corroborated in various studies. In Rao’s studies it was demonstrated that boys were regularly
given the privilege of good food, education over girls, Rao also notes that girls were regularly
given household chores such as: collecting water, cooking meals - that boys were not expected
to do. (Rao as cited in Bhatia, H.M)
Further supporting this gender bias, a Unicef (2007) publication on the State of the World’s
Children identifies “institutional discrimination” resulting from “cultural traditions” in which
problematic gender stereotypes go unnoticed and “remain accepted and unchallenged”
The report goes on to state:
“The unequal division of household labour, such as requiring girls and women to trek
many kilometres to fetch water and firewood, or the uneven allocation of household
resources, such as giving women and girls less food or medical care, are examples of
more subtle forms of inequality. These ingrained forms of discrimination often keep
individuals, families and societies trapped in poverty and undermine economic, political
and social development.” (The State of the Worlds Children, UNICEF, 2007)

Fig. 20: Gender Bias: Choice Card

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card II: Girls, Sports & Stigma
Kotschwar (2014) a research fellow with the Institute of International Economics talks about
the barriers women from developing countries face to participate in sports, owing to the “strictly
enforced” gender roles and restrictions on movement.
Kotschwar notes that - “In India, for example, where although women like wrestler Sonika
Kaliraman and tennis star Sania Mirza are paving the way for women in sports, girls do not
participate widely in athletics. Among the reasons are lack of encouragement from parents and
family members and tradition: Because women have not commonly participated in sports in the
past, girls face criticism for wanting to do so.” (Kotschwar, 2014)

Fig. 21: Girls, Sports & Stigma: Choice Card

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card III : Restrictions to movement in public spaces
The book 'Why Loiter' documents three years of research on the inaccessibility of urban spaces
for women in metro cities like Mumbai. Shrivastava (2012). A review of this book notes how
a city like Mumbai despite “radically transforming” with respect to infrastructure still “grants”
women secondary status. Shrivastava also notes - “low visibility areas, poorly lit spaces, deserted
streets and public transportation after sunset all constitute for unsafe environments. To counter,
women alter their movement and restrict accessing urban spaces, maintaining a compromise.
This “modification of behaviour” includes - covering their chest with a book, file or dupatta,
walking while gazing down and pretending to be on the phone while moving swiftly away
into private spaces are common glimpses. Michel Foucault (as cited in Phadke, 2011) calls
this “disciplined bodies”. Foucault contends that, people in institutions such as schools, mental
asylums, prisons are so used to being watched constantly that eventually they “no longer have to
be watched” because they monitor themselves.

Fig. 22: Restrictions to Movement: Choice Card

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card IV : Attitudes towards public performance
In the book Wanted Cultured Ladies Only!, Majumdar (2009) describes the rise of film
production in colonial India and identifies its association with the lower rungs of class in
Indian Society at that time. “Generalised gossip about cinema as a
disreputable institution was tied to its class status and to anxieties of
female public performance”. (See fig. 22)
This culturally routed norm is also identified by Anna Morcom
(2017), a professor who studied Ethnomusicology and the Song and
Dance of India and Tibet. In her paper The Cure is Worse Than
The Disease she mentions - “Prior to modern reforms, performing
in public as a professional was incompatible with marriage for a
woman. A woman who danced or sang in public or in front of men
was not only outside domestic space, and thus violating basic rules
of patriarchal control, but engaged in an activity that was sensual,
strongly affective and focused attention on the body.” (Morcom,
2017, p. 501)

Fig. 23: Film Callout for Fazli Bros. Ltd.

Fig. 24: Attitudes towards Public Performance: Choice Card

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5. next
5.1 looking forward
5.2 not an end note

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looking forward

In the next iteration of the game, I hope to build in further degrees of challenge and focus
on the way the chance cards operate. During the visualisation of the village exercise (see
section Visualisation of a Village) I was confronted with a similar dilemma - the challenge
of communicating the nuances of the Hindu Caste system. In that studio exploration, visual
storytelling aided and brought to focus what I was struggling to communicate to my peers. In a
similar vein, this rendition of the S&L uses the telling of ”short stories” to amplify the subtleties
of the Indian way of life that need reconsidering.
In order to increase moments of engagement between players, the next iteration will be used to
open the “value section” at the bottom of every chance card as a means to provoke debate and
discussion amongst players. Therefore, depending on the scenario presented the game should
afford players means to decide whether each scenario presented is in fact an opportunity to move
forward,stay put, or step backwards . Deliberating and making a case for the decisions made
during the game, becomes a key aspect of the play and interaction amongst the players.
Apart from the mechanisms the game runs on, I hope to pull from the rich visual language of
the Gyan Chaupar boards and test on various types of fabric and applique styles. The forms of
the snakes and ladders are important even if their presence on the board is ornamental - they
communicate quickly what the game can be about. One might note, that the content on the
Choice cards are a bit overt, however, this was to accommodate the foreign players who may or
may not have had context of where these dialogues were coming from.
In the following iterations that might follow, I envisage using regional languages and the aid of
colloquialism and nonverbal cues, that have become shorthand to better communicate concepts.
I will possibly begin by engaging the Indian diasporic communities in Vancouver, as a first level
testing ground.

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not an end note

Complacent: (adjective) pleased, especially with oneself or one's merits, advantages, situation, etc., often
without awareness of some potential danger or defect; self-satisfied.
The only good thing that came out of the inequality and unfairness I saw and experienced as
a child, then as a girl and now as a woman is that it has made me angry. My anger has been
important in my journey as a Designer. In a country like India, where violence, violation and
religious fundamentalism have become the norm, complacency can quickly lead to apathy.
The purpose of this thesis has been to add to the dialogues taking place around the status and
roles of marginalized women in India. Using this as a starting point I set the context through a
comparison of historical and contemporary expectations we have had for women. Against this
background discussing the portrayal of women in film and popular culture allowed me to see,
how different they were expected to be, in reality.
The redesigned Snakes & Ladders creates opportunities for dialogue and dissent, it challenges
the impetus to move back and forward (metaphorical and physical) through inbuilt spaces for
discussion. Indian popular culture contains stereotypes of the “activist” persona – the one who
cares too much, who does not fear to raise their voice. These depictions are often - almost always
- female. Parallel to this is a particular culture of discomfort. In my experience, negative reactions
to feminist ideologies and expressed concern for women’s rights are rife in the Indian context. As
an Indian myself, it is still not clear to me if this unease hinges on individual desires connected to
freedom or a collective fear of loss of control. I do know that Women who stray away from the
norm are almost always criticized by both genders. (ref to fig. 8)
While the Patriarchy functions on the subordination of women by men, women are equally
complicit in endorsing these views. Actions such as holding open a door, expecting the man
to pay for a meal, waiting/longing to be saved and protected by a man are subtle but not
inconsequential. They are tied to deeper societal implications and are casually transferred
through film, stories and familial/community-based expectations.
It is these mindsets that Snakes, Ladders and Choice hopes to disrupt– the deep-rooted belief
systems that are dangerous and internalised. So, while I acknowledge the role of women and men
as protectors of the Patriarchy, I do not believe that only women must spearhead the movement
to change. The road to equality and freedom is long, meandering and a difficult one. It requires
generations of Indians to come together – Snakes, Ladders & Choice is a small call to that
freedom and seeks the attention of an entire race to march together.

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The idea for this game and its subsequent iterations were born in Canada. Important discussions
were had. If my anger and concern is to be addressed, however, these need to shift to another
place. My work will invariably stay with me and make its way to India. There it will be rehashed
to generate primary content, better game mechanics and then, go through further rounds of user
testing.
My anger is important because as we speak there are women whose basic human rights are being
violated. There are young girls dropping out of school because their parents don’t want the burden
they symbolise, it is important because when they marry, they will be told that their place is in
the domestic sphere. My journey as a Performing artist and Designer have been instrumental in
defining the scope and focus of this dissertation. I feed this emotion into my practice and hope to
be a designer that advocates for the welfare of women and children, world over.
Every woman deserves all the freedom given to men – my anger is important.

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6. the references

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of Justice in the History of Female Public Performers in India. Cultural and Social 		
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Watch. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/07/take-action-improve-conditionsdalit-women.
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list of figures

Fig. 1 on p. 16 - Origins of the Caste System
Fig. 2 on p. 22 - Visualisation of a village
Fig. 3 on p. 23 - Correspondence between Senior at Emily Carr
Fig. 4 on p. 23 - Open Studio Visualisation of the village
Fig 5 on p. 24 - Noticing flipped dolls
Fig. 6 on p. 25 - Film posters on a street in Madurai & film cut outs
Fig. 7 on p. 26 - Illustration of Sanskaar and Bekaar women
Fig. 8 on p. 27 - A Bad Girl poster
Fig 9 on p. 30 - Fairness creams advertisements
Fig. 10 on p. 33 - Still from 'Fevicol Se'
Fig 11 on p. 39 - Jain version of Gyan Chaupar
Fig. 12 on p. 40 - Sakthi Vidiyals version of Snakes & Ladders
Fig. 13 on p. 41 - Advantage and disadvantage of iteration one
Fig. 14 on p. 42 - Iteration one on cardboard
Fig. 15 on p. 43 - Breakdown of Voices on Card
Fig. 16 on p. 44 - Iteration two on floor with yarn
Fig. 17 on p. 47 - Revised cards for second iteration of the game
Fig. 18 on p. 49 - Images of the third iteration of the game
Fig. 19 on p. 51 - Spectrum of choice
Fig. 20 on p. 52 - Gender bias card
Fig. 21 on p. 53 - Girls, sports & stigma card
Fig. 22 on p. 54 - Restrictions to public spaces card
Fig. 23 on p. 55 - Fazli brothers, callout for films
Fig 24 on p. 55 - Attitudes to Performance

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appendix A: Studio making

Here is a table that describes the key studio projects that propelled me towards the final Game,
and how external factors like conversations, experiences and observations led me to make within
the studio.

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A Cloth Parrot
I did this exploration in the studio at the time when I was still pursuing the space of child safety
and protection from sexual abuse. I used old rags and tissue paper to stitch together a parrot like
doll. In India, Parrots are well known to repeat what they hear and used by fortune tellers as well.
So what if I could use a toy parrot as a teaching tool? Conversations and messages about the body
that are difficult for a parent to have can be directed through the parrot, almost like
a puppet. The technique of repetition would help the child remember an integral safety rule. In
this studio exploration I asked my peers to gather around and sit in a circle, I had a raggedy bird
in my hand and asked everyone who sat in the circle, what were some of the body safety rules
their parents introduced to them, or taught them as a kid and we tried to repeat the same rule
with the parrot - I changed my voice and there were some giggles. Some of my peers seemed to
like the bird a lot and they enjoyed the proximity of sitting around a circle and listening to me
changing voices, they were of the opinion that it definitely grabbed their attention to what the
parrot was saying and that the theatrics had value. This feedback was important as it informs my
final output later on, everytime I went back into the studio I tried to recreate the magic the parrot
brought into that circle.

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Kaavad : Storytelling Temple
India has an exceptionally rich heritage when it comes to storytelling or Katha as it is is called
in Sanskrit. Writer, researcher and storyteller Nina Sabnani in her paper The Kaavad storytelling
tradition of Rajasthan (2011) says: “Kaavad Banchana’, an oral tradition of storytelling is still
alive in Rajasthan where stories from the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana are told along with
stories from the Puranas, caste genealogies and stories from the folk tradition. It is essentially a
box that is made to resemble a shrine or temple and has various visual narratives hand painted on
each door. The Kavadiya or storyteller opens each door to reveal a different part of the story. I was
motivated to try out an unseen format from the parrot and looked towards the Kaavad - simply
because it was so engaging and had such a rich story to tell. I used a discarded cardboard box
and scored it to make doors, I had to use a lot of masking tape to fortify the object. Then I stuck
yellow sheets to form the base on which I would paint the story.
For the purpose of this particular iteration, I made the doors resemble temple doors and didn’t
paint the front, but made designs using coloured paper - then with black and red gouache I
painted over my pencil sketches. Using an existing story around the birth of Ganesha, I painted
on a large scale format keeping in mind the peer review and being able to tell the story to a larger
audience. In the following peer review I demonstrated the Kaavad in front of the whole class it was a very energizing and electric experience - by now I was seeing the value that prose was
bringing to my work and still continuing to fascinate, not just them but me too.

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Stitching Circles
During my winter break in 2016, one semester into my thesis project, I chanced upon the beauty
of stitching. It had a calming effect on me and there were moments of deep reflection - where I
was thinking about its history in Indian culture, of my grandmother who knit and smocked frocks
for me as a baby.
The following Spring, I spent delving into India’s tryst with textiles. One of the fascinating
things was that I was surrounded by resourceful peers and faculty who had strong ties, knowledge
and experience with textile. Emily my peer and Helene my studio faculty together provided
me with mountains of resources that helped me dive into the rich world of fabric. I looked at
women’s movements around the world situated between warp and weft and traditional forms of
embroidery and understood the symbolism of the needle and thread. Betsy Greer (2014) a writer
and maker talks about women from Bihar; who as a part of a Women’s cooperative...sought to
revive the domestic art of quilt-making or sujini, as it is known in that region, realising that the
quilts were a potential source of income for women living in poverty who were prevented from
working due to social customs. When the project first began, the handful of women who joined
were met with ridicule but little resistance. Men permitted their wives to participate because they
viewed quilt-making as a woman’s hobby, not a source of income. Greer writes that the project
brought positive change for the women who participated. By earning an income they became
more empowered and met less resistance from men and began to show their faces in public.
Under the protection of doing non-threatening “women’s work”, they (women) were able to
gather and learn from one another, they found solidarity and empowerment by working together.
(Greer, Craftivism, 2016)
It helped me look at embroidery less as a decorative element and more as a medium for activism,
which set change. My initial summer research plan was centered around the concepts of stitching
circles as potentially safe spaces and as opportunities for women in rural and semi-rural India to
gather around and tell stories. These meetings could then be orchestrated to encourage women
to address safety issues of children and women in general. The idea was that, sitting and stitching
around a piece of cloth would shift their gaze but not attention from the difficult conversations
surrounding violence in their community and help them be more involved.

In preparation for my summer research and also to gain the experience of conducting a cocreative workshop, I planned two simultaneous workshops for my Spring 2017 studio class.
One of the sessions was to sit in 1 of any 4 squares drawn out on a floor with chalk and
demarcated with emotions. The objective was to take any colour of thread and pattern of cloth
from a basket of supplies and to stitch in that emotion square thinking of a memory when you
either felt happy, sad, angry or fearful. In this paired exercise, I wanted to encourage but not
enforce discussion. After fifteen minutes a bell would be rung to indicate that people could move
on to do their stitching in another square with another word to consider. My hope was that
if there were other people in that square and that individuals would feel open to sharing their
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memories/thoughts with one another other.
My key goal for this activity had been to understand if the mark making and stitching on cloth
afforded individuals the space to think through the word they had been invited to consider. If
the activity of working on the cloth might allow a different type of focus. And provide a visual
marker (their stitching) that would provide people safe way to consider at a later date the context
of their discussion? In retrospect if the objective was to observe the connection between where
stories were inspired from and the memories associated with mark making on cloth, the same
experience could also have been achieved through alternate means such as, giving them words and
phrases or placing down objects that they could respond to.

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Day in the life of...
During a particular exercise in the studio, I was trying to understand how many interactions do
children actually have in their daily lives. How many people do they meet and interact with and
how mobile can they be. I wanted to study the lives of children belonging to slightly varied socioeconomic backgrounds. I spoke to my cousin who has a six year old and asked her to list out
what a typical day looks like in her daughter, Maya’s life and how many people does she interact
with on a regular basis. Maya is born to upper middle class parents who have steady incomes and
access to free education owing to her father’s career in the Indian Navy.
In contrast, I spoke to my friends house help Pooja- a widow with two teen aged children. From
extremely poor backgrounds and almost below the poverty index Poojas daughter Neha and son
Amit are enrolled in government schools – Neha is a in a co-educational school while Amit is
in an all boys school. From both these conversations I noticed a few things – girls in general live
in extremely protected conditions. Neha is escorted to school because she lives in a slum that
has a lot of male gangs and she goes home on a cycle accompanied by friends and returns to her
aunts house. Maya is picked up by a nanny from the bus stop who feeds her, changes her and
makes her do her homework until her mother returns from work. Amit on the other hand has
total freedom before and after school. He has a mobile phone with data, is able to go to the local
grocery store to recharge his phone. His mother also sends him on grocery errands and he and his
sister take the local train to visit their grandmother on weekends. While I did notice the obvious
differences, this got me thinking about the rules that govern how girls and boys are raised in India
and pushed me to explore this through another video prototype. From both these conversations
I noticed a few things – girls in general live in extremely protected conditions. Priya is escorted
to school because she lives in a slum that has a lot of male gangs and she goes home on a cycle
accompanied by friends and returns to her aunts house. Aanya is picked up by a nanny from the
bus stop who feeds her, changes her and makes her do her homework until her mother returns
from work. Jagan on the other hand has total freedom before and after school. He has a mobile
phone with data, is able to go to the local grocery store to recharge his phone. His mother also
sends him on grocery errands and he and his sister take the local train to visit their grandmother
on weekends. While I did notice the obvious differences, this got me thinking about the rules
that govern how girls and boys are raised in India and pushed me to explore this through another
video prototype.

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appendix B: Research ethics application

This research will be conducted using semi-structured interviews, a cultural probe and a material
practice focused on storytelling. Ms. Vidya Reddy a child protection specialist, who runs Tulir – A
Center for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse in Chennai, India has agreed to
champion my project as an expert on this subject.
I. SEMISTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS I will individually invite NGO personnel to answer
my queries and converse with me in a semi structured interview. In order to afford for a dialogic
sharing of information that is two-way 60 – 90 minutes will be set aside for the interview. This
might be conducted face to face, over telephone or Skype. The primary goal would be to better
understand the objectives of NGO’s and how this has or
hasn’t translated into their communication material. Direct questions along with several themes
to guide more informal dialogue during the interview meetings, for example: objectives of their
organization, hurdles being faced, choice and impact of communication channels used, role of
technology.
II. CULTURAL PROBETullii Mattelmäki (2005) in her book Design Probes refers to the 4
reasons for conducting a probe, which are: for Inspiration,
Information, Participation and Dialogue. This designed cultural probe concerns itself with
collecting information in order to arrive at new questions, create alternate outlines and to find
patterns in expression. Additionally, to provide NGO’s with an opportunity to participate. The
probe will be made up of 3 activities designed to help me better understand the NGO personnel’s
beliefs, cultural concerns and aesthetic preferences.
1) Card Sorting
The probe will carry a set of designed cards with different imagery of stakeholders on them
(Ex: Inspector, Lawyer, Mother, Child, Community). There will be a range of 12 to 15 cards
and participants will be asked to arrange the cards twice. In the first instance they will be asked
to arrange them according to how important they feel these stakeholders and members of civil
society are in the child safety network; starting from most important to least important. The
second question will prompt them to open a set of empty blank cards that they could add to the
existing stack; they can also remove cards they don’t feel are important and then stack them in
any order they deem fit.
The objective will be to gain a better understanding of how participants
view other stakeholders and members of society in the child
safety network.
2) Postcard
A postcard activity will encourage each participant to share their thoughts on the images of
different kind of mass media; with prompts such as – ‘What do you think of this?’ Or ‘Tell me
something about what you see’. These questions are intended to elicit a more casual response from
the participant, similar to ones found in everyday conversations. The postcards will have a mix of
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illustrations or photographs of objects and ideas such as - internet, radio, camera phones, posters,
street plays, loudspeaker rallies, puppet shows etc.
3) Assembling Activity
The intent behind this exercise is to better understand how participants represent children
internally to themselves and in turn, how they see this in relation to communication material that
is widely seen in their work. The probe will have a set of paper/cloth cut outs of girls and boys in
varying skin colour – from light, wheatish brown to dark skinned.
Clothing for the boy and girl forms will also be provided; the participants will be asked to create
as many combinations as possible. They will then be asked to add words onto empty cards that
relate to their assembled
pieces and a space to reflect on any feelings or thoughts that overcame them during the activity.
III. MATERIAL PRACTICE, STORYTELLING & OBSERVATIONS
In the DESIS (Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability) Network publication ‘The Pearl
Diver’; the editors identify the designer’s role as a storyteller. They say - as designers and design
researchers working in the field of social innovation we often make use of storytelling to involve,
engage and create fruitful dialogue. Stories can be considered as a means through which to share
visions, desires and expectations of the actors involved. One of the key factors that one notices
while skimming through child safety resources is the use of narrative to explain key concepts,
which are otherwise hard to communicate. Using these essays as a way to anchor my research; I
hope to observe, respond and use my material practice to sort through the stimuli coming my way
and understand how stories can play a larger role in this exchange.

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appendix C: Flims & Plot lines

Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham:
Rahul an adopted son of rich parents - Yashwardhan Raichand and Nandini goes against their
wishes and marries by his own choice, a girl from poor backgrounds. Rich father will not accept
their union and kicks Rahul out of the family and the business. Rahul, moves to London with his
new wife, Anjali and proceeds to have a family there. In the meantime, Yashwardhan’s younger
son, Rohan who has now completed University finds out about Rahul’s banishment from India
while overhearing his grandmothers talk. Rohan goes through a lot of trouble and reunites the
family. Yashwardhan apologises and welcomes Rahul back into their lives and Rohan falls in love
with Pooja who is Anjali’s younger sister.
Director: Karan Johar
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 210 minutes

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Masaan:
Masaan
Multiple narratives intertwine in this film. The first story is of Devi Pathak and her boyfriend,
who disguise themselves as a married couple and enter a cheap motel only to be interrupted by
police. Half naked, the police storm in and take videos of Devi as a tactic to blackmail her later.
Her partner runs into the bathroom and commits suicide, knowing that the shame would shatter
his family. Devi’s father, Vidyadhar is called to the police station and made aware of the
consequences of her daughters actions. In exchange for the police’s silence, Vidyadhar has to pay
off the cops and is given 4 months time to pay three hundred thousand rupees as a bribe.
Deepak Kumar is from the Dom community, which consists of lower caste peoples who burn
bodies on the ghats of the ganges. He finishes engineering at the top of his class and is looking
to get out of the family occupation and make a name for himself. He falls in love with Shaalu
Gupta a upper caste hindu girl. When he does reveal his identity, to his surprise Shaalu isn’t
deterred and is willing to run away for love. Unfortunate events kill Shaalu and her entire family
in a bus accident. That night, Deepak is called to the burning grounds to help out with excessive
dead bodies and recognises Shaalu’s ring on one of the dead bodies fingers, he is distraught and
cries out in pain at the loss of his love. The film ends with Deepak offering Devi water when he
sees her weeping at the river banks. They get on a boat and ride to the Sangam - which is the
confluence of three rivers in India - Yamuna, Saraswati and the Ganges.
Director: Neeraj Ghaywan
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 109 minutes

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