Who we are
Sandbox Research is a feminist formation that aims to gather and strategically disseminate knowledge rooted in the land and in local ways of knowing. Our goals are to produce feminist knowledge; to do so using horizontal labor practices; and to arm the present and future with deep and holistic knowledge. We are a new formation, emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to gather stories and information with researchers working in their own communities to assist with the everyday and structural crises arising from the worldwide catastrophe of the pandemic. Sandbox run Langar Mutual Aid, an initiative that gathers and disperses aid from the community to the community. The first such initiative was launched in April 2020, followed by two more drives in May 2020 and June 2021. We are currently raising funds for people in Sindh affected by the catastrophic monsoon floods in the Indus river basin ongoing in 2022.
Langar Mutual Aid
Born from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Langar Mutual Aid is an initiative that aims to share community resources and distribute them to those who need them. We began by assisting minority communities and people incarcerated in one prison in Lahore access rations and personal protective equipment at a time when the most precariously placed among us were forced out of work by the lockdown and did not have access to the basic means of survival. In 2022, we have gathered and disbursed funds to assist folks displaced by the catastrophic monsoon flood in the Indus basin. Our comrades have set up medical camps, found temporary shelter for their village, and have been able to receive some rations. As a people’s initiative, Langar works with communities with whom we have had long-standing relationships, sharing work, organizing, and meals together to work for better times for us all.
Ye Anokhay Ayyam
Ye Anokhay Ayyam documents the last 20 (or so) years of women and transgender history in Pakistan, gathering life stories from people from all walks and strata of life in Pakistan. Sandbox Research has been gathering an oral history archive from 2020 onwards with the help of community researchers who have formulated their own research priorities relevant to the needs and aspirations of the people with whom they spend their everydays, their lives, and their struggle. Ye Anokhay Ayyam also collects legal documents related to key cases in the development of gender rights history as well as a catalog of media coverage of violence against women and transgender people in Pakistan.
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