Historical perspective: Mobile museums hope to revive sense of ownership

The project, a collaboration of CAP and 'I Am Karachi', will be set up at five public places across the city.

KARACHI: How much do you know about the city you live in? Are you aware of its history? Of its evolution from a small fishing village to the great conurbation it is today?

The Citizens Archive of Pakistan (CAP) has teamed up with the 'I Am Karachi' consortium to apprise the citizens of the history of this great city. They will set up mobile museum stations at five public spaces in the city, where people can learn about the transitions of the metropolis through multimedia projections. The museums are part of CAP's 'Oral History Project'.

The multimedia on display will incorporate pictures, videos and audio clips of the people and places that made this city into what it is today. The project will also include interactive games designed to educate people about the city's historic landmarks and the important events that have shaped the city's identity.

Speaking about the project, CAP executive director Swaleha Alam Shahzada said the mobile museums were designed to highlight and project the city's diversity. She claimed it was a unique project that hoped to inspire the people of Karachi.

"These mobile museums will be specific to the location where they are installed," said Shahzada. She explained that the station installed at Frere Hall will brief the visitors about the history of the place. "This is the most unique feature of these museums — they will each describe the history of the landmark where they have been installed." The other stations will be set up at Karachi Zoo, Safari Park, Port Grand and the Mohatta Palace. The museums will be open to public for a month and their timings will depend on the locations where they are installed.

Speaking about the stations, the 'I Am Karachi' campaign manager, Wajiha Naqvi, said the museums aimed to stimulate a sense of ownership among the citizens of Karachi. "Through this project, we hope to instil a sense of responsibility among the citizens towards the city. Nobody will tell them not to touch the system. The people will take care of the mobile museums themselves," she believed.

Naqvi lamented that the people of Karachi lacked a sense of ownership towards the city. She hoped the project would arouse these feelings again. "The plan was to put these museums at public places that are not frequented by people anymore," she said. "We hope to attract more people to places such as Safari Park, where they can interact with each other, forget their differences and learn to live together again."

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2015.