Decolonising Participatory Design Practices: Towards Participations Otherwise

Abstract

Participatory Design (PD) approaches are particularly well-suited to contribute to contemporary debates of decolonisation in design due to PD's long-standing political traditions and values of democracy and empowerment. Decolonising discourses teach us that we need to move away from the universalising ĝ€grand narratives' of knowledge production and focus on contextualising diverse and situated experiences, epistemologies and narratives. Yet, few contributions actively demonstrate what a shift to decolonising PD means in practice. This interactive workshop will invigorate the gap in PD debates of decolonisation by bringing together and demonstrating how participatory designers in diverse global contexts are working with and adapting modes, concepts, methodologies and sensibilities of PD into decolonising practices. These practices not only create new shifts and worldviews, but have potential for developing truly transcultural and transdisciplinary PD approaches.