Serpa, B.O., van Amstel, F.M., Mazzarotto, M., Carvalho, R.A., Gonzatto, R.F., Batista e Silva, S., and da Silva Menezes, Y. (2022) Weaving design as a practice of freedom: Critical pedagogy in an insurgent network, in Lockton, D., Lenzi, S., Hekkert, P., Oak, A., Sádaba, J., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June – 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.707
Abstract: Design can be both a practice of freedom or a practice of oppression, depending on who designs and whose intentions are prioritized. When this practice underestimates, excludes, disrespects, or deceives people who are part of oppressed groups, it intensifies oppression. Design as a practice of freedom takes more than a new design method. It requires the union of the oppressed. This paper describes the weaving of the Design & Oppression network, which responded to the growth of political authoritarianism and naive consciousness in design. The network’s goal is to establish bonds of solidarity between all struggles against oppression that cut across design. Its critical pedagogy draws from the Latin American tradition of critical thinking in Education, Arts, and Sociology, promoting both professional training and concrete social actions.
