Designs of the Oppressed was a free online course offered by UTFPR, in partnership with the Design & Oppression network in 2021 and 2022, as part of larger efforts to strengthen Brazilian universities’ international reach. In it, several members of the network presented their work and promoted dialogues.
The course shares the accumulated experience of the Design & Oppression network, weaved by educators and professionals who refuse to take part in reproducing the oppressions studied by Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972) and Augusto Boal in Theater of the Oppressed (2000). The course will begin by summarizing the colonial history of design in Brazil, discuss other forms of oppression, and finish by availing the possibilities of designing for liberation. Guest lectures and conversations held by the network members will represent the variety of situations in which designers face oppression in Brazil. Beyond describing how the social issue manifests in Brazil from multiple perspectives, the lectures will show that Brazilians also have advanced pedagogies, theories, and practices to deal with that.
Check the full syllabus and recordings
