Week 10 - Contextualized

Design
CONTEXTUAL DESIGN: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND
DECOLONISING DESIGN

1. Historical Background

In 1945, WWII ended and thus colonies disbanded from their colonizers (obviously
not every single one but most of them). It was the end of colonialism.
Postcolonialism is a term used to recognize the continued and troubling presence
and influence of colonialism within the period we designate as “after-the-colonial”. It
refers to the ongoing effects that colonial encounters, dispossession and power have
in shaping the familiar structures (such as social, political, spatial, uneven global
interdependencies) of the present world. Postcolonialism, in itself, questions the end
of colonialism.

The new world order shaped and dominated until today:

1. The world was divided into East and West due to the Cold War.

2. Colonial empires dissolved and created a divide of the Global North and the
Global South.

This reflects today in global politics, for example, through narratives of development
and developmental aid.

"More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery.
Their food is inadequate. They are victims of disease. Their economic life if primitive
and stagnant. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more
prosperous areas. For the first time in history, humanity possesses the knowledge
and he skill to relieve the suffering of these people. / The United States is pre-
eminent among nations in the development of industrial resources which we can
afford to use for the assistance of other peoples are limited. But our imponderable
resources in technical knowledge are constantly growing and inexhaustible. /
Fourth, we must embark on a bold new program for making th benefits of out

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 scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth
of underdeveloped areas. ” -Harry Truman in his inauguration speech.

These quotes signalize a mindset that is still prevalent today: developed vs

underdeveloped countries. It dictates which countries and cultures are “developed”
and which ones are “underdeveloped.” It dictates which ones need help and which
ones feel entitled to provide help. It dictates what the characteristics of progress are
and who can provide them.

Why are the terms “developed country” / “developing country” and “development” /
“underdevelopment” problematic? Think of Franz Boas and how he came to define
cultures and societies.

As a result, it became internationally common to view:

Poor countries of the Global south as “Third World”

Socialist countries as “Second World”

Capitalist countries as “First World”

and this perception has not subsided until today.

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 There is an alternative approach to development: core/center - Periphery

“The center-periphery (or core-periphery) model is a spatial metaphor which

describes and attempts to explain the structural relationship between the advanced
or metropolitan ‘center’ and a less developed ‘periphery’.
The model can be applied to the relationship between developed (capitalist) and
developing societies (most commonly). Or within a particular country, for example
between economically strong and poor ares; often between urban and rural areas.

It can be commonly applied. Countries at the core of the periphery are those of the
Global North: economically, and politically powerful in the global context. Countries
at the periphery of the model are those of the Global South: economically, politically,
and culturally weak in the global context. These perceptions can change, many East
Asian countries were considered to be of the periphery but are now powerful, like
Japan.

The model explains the exploitative

dynamics that core countries apply to
exploit countries in the periphery,
economically.

In this model, underdevelopment is not

the result of tradition, but is produced
as part of the process necessary for the
development of capitalism in the central
capitalist counties. Inequality between
wage-levels between the core and the
periphery make it profitable for capitalist
enterprises to locate all their production
in the “underdeveloped” regions.

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 Interdependency flows from and to many different ares of the world, economic,
political, cultural, etc. Dominant powers go beyond economics.

These three videos helped me understand this a lot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVGdECND9Fs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN6LlMY2ApQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjr5NuZv2e4&t

2. Decolonizing Design

It began as a manifesto at the biannual conference of the Design Research Society

in 2016.
“To date, mainstream design discourse has been dominated by a focus on
Anglocentric/Eurocentric ways of seeing, knowing, and acting in the world, with little
attention being paid to alternative and marginalized discourses from the non Anglo-
European sphere, or the nature and consequences of design-as-politics today.”
“We believe that a sharper lens needs to be brought to bear on non-western ways of
thinking and being, and on the ay that class, gender, race, etc. issues are designed
today. We understand the highlighting of these issues through practices and acts of

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 design, and the (re)design of institutions, design practices and design studies (…) to
be a pivotal challenge in the process of decolonization.”

“Our objective - as design scholars and practitioners - is to transform the very terms
of present day design studies and research. Designers can put to task their skills,
techniques, and mentalities to designing futures aimed at advancing ecological,
social, and technological conditions where multiple worlds and knowledges involving
humans and nonhumans, can flourish in mutually enhancing ways.”

Taste is often derived from what we are exposed to during our upbringing. Design
values and history is taught through a canon: the accepted pantheon of work by
predominantly European and American male designers that sets the basis for what
is deemed ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

This has undermined the woes produced by non-western cultures and those from
poorer backgrounds. Ghanian textiles get cast as craft rather than design, for
example. Classifying traditional craft as different from modern design deems the
histories and practices of design from many cultures as inferior.
We should aim to eliminate the false distinctions between craft and design, in order
to recognize all cultural important forms of making. Design thinking rhetoric is
similarly exclusive, to frame design thinking as a progressive narrative of global
salvation ignores alternative ways of knowing.

But what do we do as designers? We try to diversify, be inclusive and

decolonize.

Diversity is getting the invitation to the party

Inclusivity is if someone asks if you want to dance

Decolonizing is allowing the most vulnerable to choose the music, plan the
food, etc., for the party.

Unlearn that ‘good’ design only means design created by Anglocentric /

Eurocentric designers.

Learn about BIPOC designers, artists, and cultures.

Reclassify traditional crafts as part of design history.

Consider how people of different ethnicities may identify with what you are
creating.

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 Carefully consider imagery, fonts, and patterns, before using them in your
design.

Educate yourself on how to use imagery, fonts, and patterns respectfully.

Remember The Designer’s Critical Alphabet that we saw in the lecture and used in
Assignment 2. it is for:

Practicioner’s individual reflection

For students introduction to new topic through a gamified approach, making less
heavy to tackle and think about and discuss.

For everyone, as a pivot during an on-going design process.

“If you invite students to choose who they will design for, you might discover that
they won choose to design for people like you. This was my discovery while teaching
at an elite, private university in California in 2019. Six student teams were invited to
choose their users for a design assignment. None of the groups chose to design for
anyone like me — not women of color, not single parents juggling life and their
children’s schedule, not immigrants or non-Americans trying to understand American
life and systems, and not for people in their late 40s. However I was struck by who
was chosen. Five of the groups chose to design for males (including the group that
chose to design for a boy). Four of them designed for middle-class people. Only one
group chose to design for a woman, and they weren’t able to identify challenges she
faced as a woman. None of the target users were Black or Indigenous people of
color. Why were students choosing to solve problems for people who faces so few
structural problems?”

Another example of decolonizing design was “Antariksha Sanchar” a video game

that had a speculative adventure inspired by the vibrant cultures of south India. It is
set in the 1900s, it explores mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan’s dreams of
wanting to travel from his home in Madurai to other planets in the solar system.
It was born from a Bharatanatyam dance opera accompanied by multimedia,
premiered in the Royal Opera House in Mumbai in 2018. (Bharatanatyam is a
classical dance of India) Music became an important aspect in the video game. The
visual and aural references stemmed from many sources, travels to neighbourhoods
of Madurai, the Meenakshi temple, the gopurams of temples in Kanchi, the famed
Chettinad houses, and much more.

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 Many of the games 3D models can be viewed online, on sketchfab.

When it comes to decolonizing design, there are endless amounts of resources to

investigate, as well as courses, seminar, and university curriculums.

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