Critical Transfeminist Design¶
Reflection¶
Laura Benetiz
During the first session of this course we talked about subalternity and epistemic violence. Subalternity in postcolonialism is talking about the condition of those under subordination due to colonization in relation to their economic, racial, or social status. Epistemic violence is where there are absences more than presences of the knowledge bearers. The abense and imbalance of representation and their knowledge. During this class we learned about these theories, vocabulary and examples of post colonial theories. Such as R.I.S.E, which is an indigeneous initiative to amplify voices and indegenous issues of decolonization.
In the second session we talked through design justice principles which is a resource from Design Justice Network. Some key takeaways from these principles are that the designer is a facilitator rather than an expert. Often the designer feels the need to become an expert to “solve” for specific issues, whereas in this case the role of the facilitator is to bring together and amplify voices who are already experts. In corrolation with this is also the principle to reduce boundaries of an expert and amateaur. In this way we can create spaces more inclusive where anyone can contribute their perspective regardless of their background.
https://designjustice.org/read-the-principles