Drawing on Sarah Ahmed’s notions of the feminist killjoy and complaint to trace the workings of whiteness in the design school and explore pedagogies that confront it.
As someone whose pedagogy and politics are deeply shaped by Black feminism, working in a design school frequently compels Elizabeth Chin to name the whiteness of the institution and its culture. Institutional whiteness is political, and also problematic. Furthermore, naming the whiteness becomes political, and also creates problems.
Drawing on Sarah Ahmed’s notions of the feminist killjoy and complaint, this lecture embraces the killjoy. Rejecting the idea of seeking “solutions,” instead, it dives into the messy and long-lasting issues within design education.
Elizabeth Chin (she/her) is an anthropologist and ethnographer with a varied practice that includes performative scholarship, collaborative research, vernacular electronics, and experimental writing. Her work interrogates race and racism with fieldwork in the US and in Haiti. Currently, Elizabeth is Editor in Chief of American Anthropologist.
REGISTER HEREThis lecture is part of Design Educators* Unite!—a lecture series for design teachers, researchers, and students that shares feminist practices from within.
The lecture series is accessible through a sliding-scale price structure:
- Solidarity: CHF 280
- Standard: CHF 140
- Student: CHF 70
- BIPoC+Student: CHF 35
If you can afford it, please consider paying the solidarity price to support Futuress’ free learning and publishing program. For students with limited finances, particularly those self-identifying as BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and majority world, we offer a BIPOC+ student price. We trust your honesty and do not require proof of self-identification for enrollment.
For institutions keen on facilitating their students’ and staff’s participation, we provide discounted passes. Should your institution express interest please contact admin@futuress.org. We are more than happy to tailor an offer to your specific needs.
By registering for this lecture series, you not only enter a transnational community centered around design politics, but you also support the work of commissioning, editing, and publishing original counter-narratives, and help to finance our free online learning program.
Feb 22 | 6 pm CET – special free event
Roundtable Discussion
Navigating the Past, Envisioning the Future: Unearthing Feminist and Decolonial Threads in Design Education
with Cherrypye (she/her) Creator, Educator & Researcher
Clara Meliande (she/her) Designer, Researcher & Educator
and Josefina Vidal (she/her) Designer & Researcher
Mar 21 | 6 pm CET
Lecture
Otherwise Realities: Communal Care, Decolonization, and The Design School
with Layla Gharib (she/her)
Designer, Researcher & Educator
Apr 11 | 6 pm CEST
Lecture
Queering Design: Moving Towards Emergent Practices
with Sloan Leo Cowan (they/he)
Community Designer, Facilitator & Educator
May 2 | 6 pm CEST
Lecture
Social Design Practices: From the Popular Neighborhoods to the Faculty of Design
with Giuliana Córdoba (she/none)
and Emilia Odriozola (she/her)
from the Student Movement Auge FADU
May 23 | 6 pm CEST
Lecture
Crip Spacetime and Utopias of Care
with Nina Mühlemann (they/none)
Artist & Disability Scholar
June 6 | 6 pm CEST
Lecture
Feminist Killjoy Design Pedagogy: On Emphasizing Joy
with Elizabeth Chin (she/her)
Anthropologist & Ethnographer
June 13 | 6 pm CEST
Lecture
Design and Other Ways of Knowing
Ramia Mazé (she/her)
Design Researcher
June 27 | 6 pm CEST
Lecture
Mocha Celis: We Dare to Build the World We Want to Live In
with Francisco Quiñones Cuartas (she/he)
and Virginia Silveira (she/her)
from Travesti-Trans Non-binary Popular High School Mocha Celis
