Design Anthropology

O artigo demonstra como a designantropologia, integrada ao design socialmente informado e a abordagens participativas, contribuiu para que a expografia do Museu Quilombola de Itamatatiua (Alcântara, MA) se constituísse como espaço de elaboração da memória coletiva. Entre dezembro de 2024 e 2025, o percurso metodológico partiu de uma oficina participativa com mulheres ceramistas e estudantes da comunidade, seguiu com a construção da poética da exposição e a montagem coletiva, e culminou na inauguração do museu. Nesse processo, maquetes, provótipos e dispositivos de conversação atuaram como mediações entre narrativas orais, inscrições espaciais, escolhas materiais e decisões expográficas. Os resultados mostraram que, ao incorporar materialidades locais, autoria comunitária e a continuidade do fazer quilombola, a expografia superou a representação estática do passado e se afirmou como prática viva de memória. O estudo oferece uma contribuição para pensar o espaço expositivo, a partir da designantropologia, como processo de copesquisa, elaboração material e protagonismo comunitário.

EMBRACE asks whether care can be given a visual language, the way peace, sustainability, and fair trade have each been given one. Proceeding from autoethnographic research, originating in the experience of breastfeeding discrimination in a United States department store and expanding through sustained inquiry into paid maternity leave policy, reproductive labor, and the structural absence of empathy in institutional life, the project produces a designed symbol system grounded in care ethics, feminist labor theory, and social-emotional learning. The master symbol encodes the letters E, I, and Q through three nested forms: an inner circle (e), a bindi focal point drawn from the Indian iconographic tradition (i), and an open outer arc (q); together they model the growth of care from the personal to the institutional. Five sub-symbols address gender balance, racial equality, income equality, ethno-diasporic harmony, and family bonding, forming a visual language for emotional intelligence in corporate, civic, and community contexts. The scholarly grounding draws on Tronto and Puig de la Bellacasa on care ethics; Federici and Hochschild on reproductive and emotional labor; Tunstall on design anthropology and cultural respect; and Brackett's RULER framework on social-emotional learning. EMBRACE proposes that emotional intelligence is not a soft skill but a designable, teachable, and institutionally accountable practice, a journey, as the work frames it, from "I" to "us", with a future direction advanced as a proposed eighteenth goal within the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals framework.

Tulisan ini mengkaji transformasi Perayaan Cap Go Meh di Kota Singkawang dari praktik budaya yang bersifat sakral menjadi instrumen ekonomi dalam kerangka pariwisata. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif berbasis studi literatur dan analisis kritis, tulisan ini menempatkan fenomena tersebut dalam perspektif pemikiran Karl Marx, khususnya terkait konsep komodifikasi, fetisisme komoditas, dan alienasi. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahwa meningkatnya arus wisatawan dan intervensi kebijakan negara telah mendorong perubahan fungsi Cap Go Meh, dari ekspresi spiritual komunitas menjadi produk wisata yang memiliki nilai tukar. Dampak ekonomi yang dihasilkan cukup signifikan, ditandai dengan peningkatan pendapatan sektor perdagangan dan jasa, khususnya UMKM dan industri perhotelan. Namun demikian, manfaat tersebut tidak terdistribusi secara merata dan cenderung terkonsentrasi pada pelaku ekonomi bermodal besar. Selain itu, terjadi kecenderungan reduksi makna budaya akibat dominasi logika pasar, di mana aspek spektakel lebih diutamakan dibandingkan nilai simbolik. Tulisan ini berargumen bahwa Cap Go Meh merepresentasikan arena dialektis antara kepentingan ekonomi dan pelestarian budaya. Oleh karena itu, diperlukan kebijakan pariwisata yang lebih berkeadilan dengan menempatkan masyarakat lokal sebagai aktor utama serta menjaga keseimbangan antara nilai ekonomi dan integritas budaya.

I am a Colombian industrial designer, professor, and researcher working in Brazil. Over time, however, the descriptor “ industrial” has faded away due to my interest in collaborating directly with particular communities and situations, different from those directed towards mass production and consumption. As a researcher, I am interested in the relationship between local and academic knowledge, the methodological entanglements between design and anthropology, and the construction of a design theory and practice that are aligned with the territories within which I work.

In this chapter, I explore participatory, decolonial design practices and research, based on an analysis of two research projects, as well as the work of Colombian sociologist, Orlando Fals Borda. I developed the first research project while pursuing my master’s degree in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte. The second was developed during the course of my doc torate study. During the fieldwork of the first project, I walked several streets of the city center and I documented a diversity of artifacts that had been produced by people who have no formal knowledge in the area of design. The practice of configuration of these artifacts is commonly known as “ vernacular design” (Valese, 2007), among other names1. The research began with the question: what is the relationship between the knowledge of  non- designers ( who pro duce this kind of artifacts) and the knowledge of academically trained designers? One of the conclusions I derived from this research was that these types of artifacts could serve both as lessons and as inspiration for the academic context of design. However, this is a conclusion I have come to reconsider. The second project used a different methodological approach. Based on the concept of such as “ correspondence” (Ingold, 2016), in my doctorate, I suggested that the knowledge of those who produce “ vernacular” artifacts functions as far more than “ inspiration” for formal designers. I argued that the relationship between  so- called popular knowledge and academic knowledge involves something deeper. As a designer, I hoped to bring the two spheres to gether to contribute directly to the daily lives of the local community. With these ideas in mind, I worked for a year with the Santa sem Violência Collective (Santa without Violence, or SSVC), a group of residents who were seeking ways to fight against a wave of violence that was moving through the neighborhood of Santa Teresa in Rio de Janeiro.

After my doctoral research, and intending to contribute to the construction of a less Eurocentric and more locally relevant design process, I sought out the work of Orlando Fals Borda, one of the founders of participatory action research ( PAR). This Colombian sociol ogist made essential contributions to the rethinking of social sciences and Latin American societies from a decolonial perspective and has been a significant reference for many other researchers, including the anthropologist Arturo Escobar ( 2014, 2018, 2020). Fals Borda (2009a) proposed a conception of sociology known as sentipensante, or  feeling-  thinking.

In this chapter, I speculate as to what the field of design could learn from the work of Fals Borda. How could design contribute to the methods and theories that he proposed? How can I rethink and nurture my own practices by responding to the same questions that he brought to his work? How can design nurture Fals Borda’s proposal of sentipensar? To begin, I present a summary of the two abovementioned design research projects. I then bring PAR concepts and practices to the discussion and finally, I analyze the two projects and imagine how sentipensante sociology can contribute to design practice and research. Just as the Brazil ian educator Paulo Freire was a reference for Scandinavian participatory design ( PD) ( Ehn, 1989), Fals Borda contributes to the continued emphasis on participation in design processes and social transformation today.

L’articolo esplora il concetto di comfort nei progetti di co-design per l’inclusione sociale, inteso come costruzione politica, sociale e relazionale. A partire da oltre 20 esperienze di ricerca-azione del gruppo di lavoro, il comfort viene analizzato come boundary concept, capace di dare voce a bisogni complessi e indefiniti nelle fasi iniziali dei processi collaborativi. Attraverso la lente dei domini del design (Jones e Van Patter), l’articolo propone una prospettiva multi-dominio e dialogica, articolata in tre linee di progetto: spazi di comfort, stati di comfort e processi per il comfort. Il comfort emerge così come dispositivo trasformativo e risorsa di cura collettiva, utile a generare benessere, rafforzare l’autoefficacia e promuovere futuri inclusivi. ______ ENG: The article explores the concept of comfort in co-design projects for social inclusion, understood as a political, social, and relational construct. Based on over 20 action-research experiences by the group, comfort is analyzed as a boundary concept, giving voice to complex and often undefined needs in the early stages of collaborative processes. Through the lens of the design domains (Jones and Van Patter), the article develops a multi-domain and dialogical perspective, articulated in three lines: comfort spaces, states of comfort, and processes for comfort. Comfort thus emerges as a transformative device and a form of collective care, fostering well-being, self-efficacy, and more inclusive futures.

This paper proposes an interdisciplinary framework integrating psychoanalysis, design philosophy, structural anthropology, and computer sciences to explain the symbolic genesis of design objects from the designer's unconscious desire. The Dissonant Imagination framework posits that Human-Centered Design requires an emotional, symbolic, and cultural frame to achieve coherence between design intent and large-scale cultural meaning. Applications of the framework allow organizations to predict product acceptance, rejection, and retention at foundational research stages, reducing development risk. The study has cross-cultural scope across Latin America, the United States, and the Middle East.

This paper proposes an interdisciplinary framework integrating psychoanalysis, design philosophy, structural anthropology, and computer sciences to explain the symbolic genesis of design objects from the designer's unconscious desire. The Dissonant Imagination framework posits that Human-Centered Design requires an emotional, symbolic, and cultural frame to achieve coherence between design intent and large-scale cultural meaning. Applications of the framework allow organizations to predict product acceptance, rejection, and retention at foundational research stages, reducing development risk. The study has cross-cultural scope across Latin America, the United States, and the Middle East.

Este artigo parte da experiência de contaminação de um grupo de professoras e estudantes pela febre Oropouche, durante um trabalho de campo em um terreiro de candomblé no interior do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Mais do que um imprevisto, o vírus torna-se um agente etnográfico que reconfigura os modos de colaboração, pesquisa e as práticas de projeto. A partir desse atravessamento, discutimos como tramas de cuidado, saberes tradicionais e relações multiespécies compõem colaborações contaminadas, porém cuidadosas, bem como uma ecologia de práticas sustentáveis que desafiam os paradigmas do controle e do desenvolvimento, propondo um debate sobre o papel do design diante das crises do Antropoceno. Pensando com autores como Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing e Antônio Bispo dos Santos, argumentamos em favor de uma prática de design situada e confluente, atenta às contaminações e ao cuidado, tomando design não como solução, mas como um fazer capaz de cultivar compromissos éticos com mundos em transformação.

This article is based on the experience of a group of teachers and students contracting Oropouche fever during fieldwork in a Candomblé terreiro in the interior of Rio de Janeiro state. More than an unforeseen event, the virus becomes an ethnographic agent that reconfigures modes of collaboration, research, and design practices. From this intersection, we discuss how meshes of care, traditional knowledge, and multispecies relationships compose contaminated yet caring collaborations, as well as an ecology of sustainable practices that challenge the paradigms of control and development. Thinking with authors such as Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, and Antônio Bispo dos Santos, we argue for a situated and confluent design practice, attentive to contamination and care, understanding design not as a solution but as a practice capable of cultivating ethical commitments to changing worlds.

Resumen: Esta propuesta es una conversación en la que se explora la necesidad de desaprender y destejer los entramados tradicionales en el diseño y la creación para abrirse a nuevas perspectivas. Nicole, inmersa en la metodología del diseño hegemónico como estudiante de diseño industrial, se conectó con el trabajo artesanal en Usiacurí, Colombia, desaprendiendo y creando desde otra mirada. Por otro lado, Valentina, a partir de su experiencia en Usuy, Senegal, como investigadora y tejedora con mujeres artesanas, ha teorizado y trabajado en torno a dejarse afectar, donde los afectos y los vínculos son un espacio vital para un caminar descolonial. Ambas unidas por el tejido de palma de los Sures. A partir de conversaciones sobre nuestras experiencias, encontramos cómo, en este gran telar, cada tejido se ha desdibujado para que entramados distintos-decoloniales, interculturales, desaprendidos, exploratorios, sinuosos, pluriversales y en encuentro-brinden la posibilidad de destejer-ser. A través de dos experiencias, convergemos en una propuesta teórico-práctica-reflexiva que surge del acuerpar-cuerpo-territorio-el saber para encontrarse con el conocer-mente-, teorizando sobre lo vivido, lo sentido y lo afectado. Esta invitación de desaprendizaje la nombramos como destejer-ser. Cada una de nosotras, desde el cuerpo, ha desafiado y desestabilizado las convenciones establecidas en la decodificación tanto del pasado como del futuro, generando un encuentro entre modos de hacer, pensar, ser y estar al crear e investigar. Desaprender y desestabilizar las convenciones establecidas implica cuestionar no solo los paradigmas que han dominado la práctica del diseño y la creación, sino también nuestras propias prácticas aprendidas en las instituciones de diseño. Con este texto, buscamos generar afectos y encuentros donde podamos vernos en el horizonte, lejos de las dualidades propias de la colonialidad.

These notes accompanied “Divergent Thinking In Disaster: Examples from Typhoon Haiyan Survivors”, a presentation we gave at Off the Lip 2015 (https://otlip15.cognovo.eu) at Plymouth University, UK. Off the Lip 2015 was organized by CogNovo, a multidisciplinary doctoral training programme based at Plymouth University. The presentation slides are included in this document. At CogNovo, much of the behavioural and experimental research we do around creativity and cognition generally involves (for methodological reasons) relatively low stakes, in controlled settings, and within certain timescales. There are notable exceptions, including Kathryn Francis’ work on moral decisionmaking (Francis et al., 2016) and Michael Kristensen’s work on alarm fatigue (Kristensen, Edworthy, & Özcan, 2016). However, the premises upon which humans make basic productive decisions are multiple. They emerge from direct environmental stimuli, social organizational forms and ideological mandates. Disasters provi...

This paper revisits the concept of Cognitive Innovation with the aim of helping newcomers appreciate its (intended) demarcating purpose and relevance to the wider literature on cognition and creativity in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Particular emphasis is paid to discussion of the pitfalls of sense-making and the concept's affordance. The main argument presented is that proponents of the concept face the dilemma of seeking to demonstrate its transdisciplinary nature and applicability vis-a-vis retaining its semantic distinctness. Proceeding from a classification of Cognitive Innovation as a dispositional construct, we discuss how it feeds into existing research approaches and opens up new sensibilities in related areas. The perspectives of temporality, interdisciplinary balancing, technology, and metatheories are proposed as promising areas for future elaboration of the function of Cognitive Innovation.