Rachel Charlotte Smith

Ton Otto

Wendy Gunn

Design is a key site of cultural production and change in contemporary society. Anthropologists have been involved in design projects for several decades but only recently a new field of inquiry has emerged which aims to integrate the strengths of design thinking and anthropological research. This book is written by anthropologists who actively participate in the development of design anthropology. Comprising both cutting-edge explorations and theoretical reflections, it provides a much-needed introduction to the concepts, methods, practices and challenges of the new field. Design Anthropology moves from observation and interpretation to collaboration, intervention and co-creation. Its practitioners participate in multidisciplinary design teams working towards concrete solutions for problems that are sometimes ill-defined. The authors address the critical potential of design anthropology in a wide range of design activities across the globe and query the impact of design on the discipline of anthropology. This volume will appeal to new and experienced practitioners in the field as well as to students of anthropology, innovation, science and technology studies, and a wide range of design studies focusing on user participation, innovation, and collaborative research.

Theory and Practice

Design Anthropology

Thomas Binder

Mette Gislev Kjaersgaard

Joachim Halse

Kasper Tang Vangkilde

Introduction : Design Anthropological Futures / Mette Gislev Kjaersgaard, Joachim Halse, Rachel Charlotte Smith, Kasper Tang Vangkilde, Thomas Binder, and Ton Otto -- Cultures of the Future : Emergence and Intervention in Design Anthropology / Rachel Charlotte Smith and Ton Otto -- Design and the Future : Temporal Politics of "Making a Difference" / Ramia Mazé -- Different Presents in the Making / Mike Anusas and Rachel Harkness -- The New Design Ethnographers, 1968-1974 : Towards a Critical Historiography of Design Anthropology / Alison J. Clarke -- Design Interventions as a Form of Inquiry / Joachim Halse and Laura Boffi -- Jostling Ethnography Between Design and Participatory Art Practices and the Collaborative Relations it Engenders / George E. Marcus -- Conversation Dispositifs : Towards a Transdisciplinary Design Anthropological Approach / Zoy Anastassakis and Barbara Szaniecki -- The Irony of Drones for Foraging : Exploring the Work of Speculative Interventions / Carl DiSalvo -- Para-ethnography 2.0. : an Experiment in Design Anthropological Collaboration / Kaspar Tang Gangilde and Morten Hulvey Rod -- Design Anthropology On the Fly : Performative Spontaneity in Commercial Ethnographic Research / Brendon Clark and Melissa L. Caldwell -- Politics of Inviting : Co-Articulations of Issues in Designerly Public Engagement / Kristina Lindstrom and Sa Stuhl -- Collaborative Cleaning, Archiving and Curating the Heritage of the Future / Adam Drazin, Robert Knowles, Isabel Brendenbroker and Anais Bloch -- Design Anthropological Frictions : Mundane Practices meet Speculative Critique / Mette Kjaersgaard and Laurens Boer -- Things as Co-ethnographers Implications of a Thing Perspective for Design and Anthropology / Elisa Giaccardi, Chris Speed, Nazli Cila and Melissa L. Caldwell -- Design Anthropology as Ontological Exploration and Inter-Species Engagement / Tau Ulv Lenskjold and Sissel Olander -- The Things We Do : Encountering the Possible / Thomas Binder.

Design Anthropological Futures

Design Anthropology provides the definitive introduction to the field of design anthropology and the concepts, methods, practices and challenges of this exciting and emerging area of study

A major contribution to the field, this ground-breaking book explores design anthropology’s focus on futures and future-making. Examining what design anthropology is and what it is becoming, the authors push the frontiers of the discipline and reveal both the challenges for and the potential of this rapidly growing transdisciplinary field.Divided into four sections – Ethnographies of the Possible, Interventionist Speculation, Collaborative Formation of Issues, and Engaging Things – the book develops readers’ understanding of the central theoretical and methodological aspects of future knowledge production in design anthropology. Bringing together renowned scholars such as George Marcus and Alison Clarke with young experimental design anthropologists from countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Brazil, the UK, and the United States, the sixteen chapters offer an unparalleled breadth of theoretical reflections and rich empirical case studies.Written by those at the forefront of the field, Design Anthropological Futures is destined to become a defining text for this growing discipline. A unique resource for students, scholars, and practitioners in design anthropology, design, architecture, material culture studies, and related fields.

Rachel Charlotte Smith

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