Design Struggles: Intersecting Histories, Pedagogies, and Perspectives

by Claudia Mareis (Editor), Nina Paim (Editor), Sria Chatterjee (Contributor)

An intersectional take on design history and the design discourse, with feminist, decolonial, anti-racist, activist, non-Western and indigenous perspectives.

Critically assessing the complicity of design in creating, perpetuating and reinforcing social, political and environmental problems – both today and in the past – Design Struggles proposes to brush the discipline against the grain, by problematising Western notions of design, fostering situated, decolonial and queer-feminist modes of disciplinary self-critique. It gathers a diverse array of perspectives, ranging from social and cultural theory, design history and activism to sociology, anthropology, and critical and political studies, looking at design through the intersections of gender, culture, ethnicity and class.

Contributors include: Claudia Mareis, Nina Paim, Danah Abdulla, Tanveer Ahmed, Zoy Anastassakis, Brave New Alps, Johannes Bruder, Cheryl Buckley, Sria Chatterjee, Alison J. Clarke, common-interest, Sasha Costanza-Chock, Decolonising Design, Bianca Elzenbaumer, Arturo Escobar, Kjetil Fallan, Griselda Flesler, Paola De Martin, Ramia Mazée, Tania Messell, Luiza Prado de O. Martins, Rebecca Ross, Nan O'Sullivan and Mia Charlene White.

Genres: Design, Research

411 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2021

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Design Struggles is a beautiful object of a book and fairly well-stocked in good writing on decolonizing design and 'pluriversal' design, it's a little overstuffed. The editors could have slimmed down each of the three sections by one or two of the essays and been better off for it. Plus, there's a bit of repetitiveness throughout, alongside a frequent restating of intent (again, to decolonize design) but some of the essays don't get much beyond the platitude.