Cart
Free Shipping in the UK
Proud to be B-Corp

Designs for the Pluriverse Arturo Escobar

Designs for the Pluriverse By Arturo Escobar

Designs for the Pluriverse by Arturo Escobar


Summary

Arturo Escobar presents a new vision of design theory by arguing for the creation of what he calls autonomous design-a design practice aimed at channeling design's world-making capacity toward ways of being and doing that are deeply attuned to justice and the Earth.

Designs for the Pluriverse Summary

Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds by Arturo Escobar

In Designs for the Pluriverse Arturo Escobar presents a new vision of design theory and practice aimed at channeling design's world-making capacity toward ways of being and doing that are deeply attuned to justice and the Earth. Noting that most design-from consumer goods and digital technologies to built environments-currently serves capitalist ends, Escobar argues for the development of an autonomous design that eschews commercial and modernizing aims in favor of more collaborative and placed-based approaches. Such design attends to questions of environment, experience, and politics while focusing on the production of human experience based on the radical interdependence of all beings. Mapping autonomous design's principles to the history of decolonial efforts of indigenous and Afro-descended people in Latin America, Escobar shows how refiguring current design practices could lead to the creation of more just and sustainable social orders.

Designs for the Pluriverse Reviews

Escobar's literature review and theoretical discussion stand out. Some of the ground he covers includes critical design studies, ethnographic approaches to design, participatory design, and decolonized design. Anthropology has a lot to offer design, Escobar argues, because we study the interplay of materiality, meaning, and practice. . . . Escobar's discussion is built on a foundation of work emanating from a panopoly of Latin American scholars, all of whom appear to be fascinating in their own rights. . . . Through Escobar I felt like I was glimpsing the depth and breadth of that body of literature for the first time. -- Matt Thompson * Anthrodendum *
Designs for the Pluriverse is a heavy-hitting theoretical framework with potential to inform the practice of the design scholar or professional in any field, from planning or architecture to product design, engineering, and beyond. The work makes sense of generations of decolonial scholarship, pushing the reader towards understanding their design work as more relational, long-term-oriented, and transformative than previously assumed. -- Darien Williams * Carolina Planning Journal *

I can emphatically state that Designs for the Pluriverse is a superb and welcome addition both to the expanding literature on design in anthropology, and to design theory more broadly. . . . Indeed, there are so many ways to read this book that almost anyone who picks it up will find something to think with.

-- Keith M. Murphy * Anthropological Quarterly *

Designs for the Pluriverse is an excellent text for design studies scholars who are interested in exploring methodologies and theories of collective existence and creation, intertwining a series of case studies that support autonomous design with the theories to challenge modernist anthropocentrism. Together, they provide a strong foundation for readers to continue pursuing how to decolonize the world by redesigning the human being and designing the pluriverse, a world in which many worlds fit.

-- Juan Carlos Rodriguez Rivera * Design and Culture *
Escobar's book brings together a wealth of relevant perspectives, initiatives, and references and is essential reading for all those interested in design and its potential for transition movements and the struggle of marginalized communities. -- Ton Otto * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *

About Arturo Escobar

Arturo Escobar is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
I. Design for the Real World: But Which World? What Design? What Real?
1. Out of the Studio and into the Flow of Socionatural Life 25
2. Elements for a Cultural Studies of Design 49
II. The Ontological Reorientation of Design
3. In the Background of Our Culture: Rationalism, Ontological Dualism, and Relationality 79
4. An Outline of Ontological Design 105
III. Designs for the Pluriverse
5. Design for Transitions 137
6. Autonomous Design and the Politics of Relationality and the Communal 165
Conclusion 202
Notes 229
References 259
Index 281

Additional information

GOR012443520
9780822371052
0822371057
Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds by Arturo Escobar
Used - Very Good
Paperback
Duke University Press
2018-03-22
312
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Designs for the Pluriverse