Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds

Arturo Escobar

Published by Duke University Press 2018

Designs for the Pluriverse

Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds

Arturo Escobar

In the series New Ecologies for the Twenty-First Century

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822371816

Overview
Contents

About this book

Arturo Escobar presents a new vision of design theory by arguing for the creation of what he calls “autonomous design”—a design practice aimed at channeling design’s world-making capacity toward ways of being and doing that are deeply attuned to justice and the Earth.

Author / Editor information

Arturo Escobar is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Reviews

"Escobar’s literature review and theoretical discussion stand out. Some of the ground he covers includes critical design studies, ethnographic approaches to design, participatory design, and decolonized design. Anthropology has a lot to offer design, Escobar argues, because we study the interplay of materiality, meaning, and practice. . . . Escobar’s discussion is built on a foundation of work emanating from a panopoly of Latin American scholars, all of whom appear to be fascinating in their own rights. . . . Through Escobar I felt like I was glimpsing the depth and breadth of that body of literature for the first time."

-- Matt Thompson Anthrodendum

"Designs for the Pluriverse is a heavy-hitting theoretical framework with potential to inform the practice of the design scholar or professional in any field, from planning or architecture to product design, engineering, and beyond. The work makes sense of generations of decolonial scholarship, pushing the reader towards understanding their design work as more relational, long-term-oriented, and transformative than previously assumed."

-- Darien Williams Carolina Planning Journal

“I can emphatically state that Designs for the Pluriverse is a superb and welcome addition both to the expanding literature on design in anthropology, and to design theory more broadly. . . . Indeed, there are so many ways to read this book that almost anyone who picks it up will find something to think with.”

-- Keith M. Murphy Anthropological Quarterly

“Designs for the Pluriverse is an excellent text for design studies scholars who are interested in exploring methodologies and theories of collective existence and creation, intertwining a series of case studies that support autonomous design with the theories to challenge modernist anthropocentrism. Together, they provide a strong foundation for readers to continue pursuing how to decolonize the world by redesigning the human being and designing the pluriverse, a world in which many worlds fit.”

-- Juan Carlos Rodríguez Rivera Design and Culture

“Escobar’s book brings together a wealth of relevant perspectives, initiatives, and references and is essential reading for all those interested in design and its potential for transition movements and the struggle of marginalized communities.”

-- Ton Otto Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I Design for the Real World
1 Out of the Studio and into the Flow of Socionatural Life Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
2 Elements for a Cultural Studies of Design Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
II The Ontological Reorientation of Design
3 In the Background of Our Culture Rationalism, Ontological Dualism, and Relationality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
4 An Outline of Ontological Design Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
III Designs for the Pluriverse
5 Design for Transitions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	137
6 Autonomous Design and the Politics of Relationality and the Communal Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	202
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	229
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 312
Illustrations
- Other: 3 figures

eBook

Published: March 15, 2018
ISBN: 9780822371816