Let’s Talk About Ways of Knowing

Bibiana Oliveira Serpa -

This open conversation invites you to discuss how individuals, communities, spaces, and environments engage with various forms of knowledge.

The intersection of design and anthropology holds the promise of a space where written theorization can be decentered in favor of embodied, oral, and communal ways of being and sense-making. Design, as a field historically considered a practice of doing, and anthropology, as a field concerned with thinking, together create the potential of thinking through doing and problematizing the impact of design’s and anthropology’s objects and systems. However, as practices emerging from academic education, both design and anthropology are embedded in hierarchical relationships that favor research about and design for over designing and researching from within communities and spaces. 

In this session, we critically reflect on the positions from which practitioners research and design and ask:

  • What—and whose experiences and practices—is considered valuable knowledge in design and anthropology?
  • How can we make room in our communities and spaces for different knowledges and experiences?
  • How is knowledge passed on and what role does the positionality of the practitioner play in how knowledge is accessed?

As the symposium’s closing event, the format also gives space to reflect on the events held over the past two days on the topics of pedagogy and education, techno-imaginaries, engaged practices, and the frictions and possibilities of anthropology and design.

The event was co-curated with Bibiana Serpa.

Bibiana Oliveira Serpa (she/her) is a Brazilian design researcher, a popular educator, and a feminist activist. She has experience in participatory projects and design for community emancipation in various locations throughout Latin America. Her research associates participatory and critical design approaches to politicization actions within social movements. She is an active member of the Articulação de Mulheres Brasileiras, a co-founder of the Design and Oppression Network, and a co-editor of the International Journal of Engineering, Social Justice and Peace.

Event language: English with Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) speech-to-text translation support.

Accessibility: Please contact anna.nagele@uni-ak.ac.at if you have any (access) needs for us to consider, or if you have questions about the access provided.

Register here

By registering, you are provided with access to the full two symposium days.

This event is part of the On the Seam: Anthropology, Design, and Situated Practices symposium navigating frictions, collaborations, and politics shaping present struggles and future possibilities.

The symposium is a collaboration between Futuress and the Department of Design History and Theory at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria, as part of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF)-funded research project “Design Anthropology: Cold War Industrial Design & Development” (Grant DOI 10.55776/PAT4411223).

The event is co-curated by Anna N. Nagele and Maya Ober and co-coordinated by Mio Kojima and Anna N. Nagele. Visuals by Heba Daghistani.

Full symposium program

May 8, 2025

2:00 pm – 2:15 pm CEST
Welcome & Opening Remarks

2:15 pm – 3:35 pm CEST
Lectures Session
Pedagogy and Education at the Seam of Anthropology and Design
With Bibiana Serpa and Cherry-Ann Morgan
Moderated by Maya Ober

3:50 pm – 5:10 pm CEST
Lectures Session
Anthropology and Design Shaping Techno-Imaginaries
With Prathima Muniyappa and Grace Turtle 
Moderated by Anna N. Nagele

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm CEST
Roundtable
Frictions, Futures, and Possibilities of Anthropology & Design
With Dana Burton, Mahmoud Keshavarz, and Helen Pritchard
Moderated by Anna N. Nagele and Maya Ober

May 9, 2025

9:30 am – 9:45 am CEST
Welcome & Opening Remarks

9:45 am – 11:05 am CEST
Lectures Session
Engaged Practices in Anthropology & Design
With Imad Gebrael and Farah Hallaba
Moderated by Amanda Haas Halim

11:20 am – 12:50 pm CEST
Group Conversation
Let’s Talk About Ways of Knowing
Moderated by Mio Kojima and Bibiana Serpa

12:50 pm – 1:00 pm CEST
Closing Remarks & End of Symposium

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