Project lead
Maya Ober
Abstract
My research looks at feminist practices of design — encompassing institutionalized practices manifested in design courses identifying as feminist and the more grassroots, self-initiated feminist activism, whether through student movements, individual students, and lecturers — all of which operate within the fabric of everyday life. In my dissertation, I look at feminist practices that hope to transform how design is conceptualized, taught, learned, and practiced within the confines of the institution’s walls – a faculty of design. My objective is to provide a poly-vocal account, one that is comprehensive in scope but by no means exhaustive, shedding light on the tapestry of feminist practices that unfolded during my ethnographic fieldwork spanning from January 2022 to January 2023 at the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism (FADU), University of Buenos Aires (UBA) in Argentina.
In this thesis, I seek to scrutinize the political projects, ideas, and practices that underpin the feminist practices of design. I deliberately use the term ’feminist practices of design’ to emphasize the intricate interplay of the adjective ‘feminist’ modifying the noun ‘practices,’ while the phrase ‘of design’ situates these ‘feminist practices’ within a specific contextual sphere. This choice is intentional, avoiding the use of ‘feminist design practices’, which might inadvertently imply a binary classification of design practices into ‘regular’ and ‘feminist’ categories. This, as suggested by researcher Danah Abdulla, feeds into a process of disciplinary decadence, rendering “any skill or approach a “strand” of design rather than viewing design as fluid or evolving” (2021: 232).
Consequently, proposing ‘feminist design practices’ could usher in the creation of an entirely new design discipline – ‘feminist design’ alongside already existing categories such as critical design, radical design, ecological design, and an ever-expanding array. Thinking together with feminist theorist Florencia Angiletta, we can perceive the endeavor to singularize feminism as a means of diluting its potential, rendering it more palatable and easier to digest (2021). However, as she continues, “The plural makes visible a mosaic of multiple consensuses, but also of tensions, ambiguities or sometimes contradictory desires, and of course, power struggles. If it did not include conflicts, it could not exist as a political space" (2012:28-29, own translation).
Lastly, using feminism as a modifier of design implies an additive approach. In this context, if design were a building, feminism would become an appended floor, perhaps an extension above or more likely, a recess in the basement. However, as my interlocutors consistently voiced, their aim is not to construct an additional floor or to reform design; instead, they yearn for an ontological change, a radical transformation that, echoing the collective Decolonizing Design, shakes the very foundations of the edifice (2018). This desire is twofold: directed towards the institution of FADU as the bastion of design education and the broader design field.
The semantics is significant — how we name ourselves matters. Echoing the words of Audre Lorde, we must seize the power to name ourselves, preventing others from assuming that role for us (1982). Hence, within the pages of my dissertation, feminist practices of design, cast a spotlight on the ceaseless potentialities of action. Within it, feminisms are anchored as ‘a sensible reaction to the injustices of the world’ (Ahmed 2017:17), focusing on the injustices woven into the fabric of design, whether confined within institutional realms or echoing across the broader design landscape.
The focal point of my argument revolves around the emergence of feminist practices of design that reveal themselves in the processes underpinning design activities and the array of actions enshrouding the fabric of design practice. Consequently, feminist practices emerging in my field urge us to reorient our attention from the culmination, endpoint, and outcome – an artifact distilled from the confluence of design politics and action — to the intricacies of the path traversed. These feminist practices of design not only form varied paths but also challenge the notion of linear trajectory often implied by modernist design approaches. If we could visualize them as a signpost, it would be akin to one adorned with arrows branching out in all conceivable directions, transcending the confines of the sign itself. This imagery mirrors the promise of combinations that are as boundless as diverse. This transition from the realm of “what” (pertaining to the artifact itself) to the nuances expanse of “hows” is central to embracing the tenets of feminist epistemologies and ontologies in design education and practice.
Embedded within an academic institution, specifically FADU (as exemplified in my dissertation), feminist design practices assume multifaceted forms, particularly within design education. Their emergence is tightly interwoven with the prevailing tapestry of power dynamics and the nuanced contours of the political landscapes from which they sprout. These can encompass student-led activist initiatives (chapters 01 and 05), formalized courses (chapters 03 and 04), and individual endeavors of students (chapter 01) or educators (chapter 02). These different paths coalesce in a political aspiration that seeks to spark transformative shifts right from within, from the heart of the institution. Echoing feminist thinker María Galindo, a closer look at the ways of doing reveals a panorama bedecked with “many possibilities, diverse recipes, infinite combinations” (Galindo 2022:47 own translation), and this thesis focuses on these possibilities.
The array of feminist practices emerging during my ethnographic fieldwork at the FADU unveils the dimensions of designing from within feminisms. Designing from within feminism means putting feminist promise in motion. Sara Ahmed writes about the promise the word “feminist” holds in itself (2017), the promise of living “better in an unjust and unequal world” (Ahmed 1:2017), the promise of more equal relationships, the promise of support for those who are excluded, the promise of resisting histories “that have become as solid as walls” (ibid). This ignition of promise kindles a momentum, a kinetic force surging through the design landscape, but not necessarily manifest in the tangible design artifacts — although, on occasion, it certainly takes form in such material incarnations. More often, however, it resides in the inconspicuous flow of practices, a realm unseen by the bare eye. These practices encompass a tapestry woven with threads of bridging, listening, articulating, queering, inducing discomfort [molestando], resisting, imagining, dreaming, loving and more -ings.
Incorporating the “-ing” (in Spanish “-ndo”) suffix into this list of actions wields a dual mantle: as a nonfinite verb, it encapsulates the continuous, perpetual nature of the feminist transformative quest — an infinite endeavor, forever in motion. Concurrently, as a noun, it channels the generative, creative possibilities intrinsic to feminist practices of design. Therefore, we can conceive these practices as conduits for possibilities. Anthropologist David Graeber defines “possibilities” as ways of imagining cultural and political practices that could help us challenge the injustices of the world (2007). So, I want to look at the possibilities unfolding from these practices at FADU, what is possible? What is possible within an institution? And what practices enable these possibilities to unfold? The very suffix, "-ing," from the actions I encountered during my fieldwork radiates a beacon of optimism. Its temporal cadence emphasizes the perpetual character of feminist design practices—an enduring journey ceaselessly advancing toward realization. This temporal resonance bears testament to the prospects of design otherwise [diseño de otra manera]. This potential for transformation is emboldened within the process, unfurling its essence through the mosaic of seemingly minor gestures, always in the making, getting to, in movement.
Discipline
Social Anthropology
Supervision
Prof. Dr. Sabine Strasser, University of Bern
