Decolonial design practices: Creating safe spaces for plural voices on contested pasts, presents, and futures

This article introduces the concept of the ‘safe space’ in design interventions: a socially developed environment for thoughts, actions, and mutual learning in political and contested contexts. The safe space responds to current challenges within decolonial design practices and calls for a plurality...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Design studies Vol. 86; p. 101170
Main Authors: Kambunga, Asnath Paula, Smith, Rachel Charlotte, Winschiers-Theophilus, Heike, Otto, Ton
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2023
Subjects:
Decolonial design
Design anthropology
Design practice
Participatory design
Research methods
Participatory design
Design anthropology
Design practice
Decolonial design
Research methods
ISSN:0142-694X, 1872-6909
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This article introduces the concept of the ‘safe space’ in design interventions: a socially developed environment for thoughts, actions, and mutual learning in political and contested contexts. The safe space responds to current challenges within decolonial design practices and calls for a plurality of knowledge and voices. We present a study in which we developed safe spaces with young Namibians by combining core elements of design anthropology and community-based participatory design through interventions, dialogic engagements, and co-design. We demonstrate how the intentional design practice of a safe space enables new ways of working in a contested context. The article presents a framework for designing and developing safe spaces, focusing on working with multiple temporalities and the social production of spaces. •A decolonial design approach responding to challenges of decolonial design practices.•The concept of safe space provides a new way of working in a contested context.•Extending the temporal horizons of design by actively engaging with pasts that may suggest alternative futures.•The combination of core elements of design anthropology and participatory design.
ISSN:0142-694X
1872-6909
DOI:10.1016/j.destud.2023.101170