My Positionally in relation to my teaching practise
I teach on the MA Biodesign course at Central Saint Martins, Biodesign is a cross disciplinary design field, where designers are introduced to the notion of learning and collaborating with living organisms to foster more holistic and regenerative futures (UAL, Postgraduate MA Biodesign 2024)
When discussing positionally Rebecca Y. Bayeck states identities change shape, multiple identities are revealed and because of the context space and intersection of both some become more prominent than others (Bayeck, 2022). When thinking about my positionally in relation to my teaching practise, I move between the roles of educator, learner and collaborator (mediator), informed by my practise and experiences as a designer, at times in some spaces I am not an expert and learn from the students and staff on the course and college. In this regard I move between as Bayeck describes as being an insider/outsider (Bayeck, 2022) in my spaces of learning.
In my practise I am a mixed race half White British and half South East Asian, male designer/educator/technician, born and raised in London to a multicultural working class family, I have had the privilege of studying design at known western institutions and I am a product of my education and cultural system, I am learning to build on, understand and shape this through my teaching and learning practices and engagements with different people and communities.
Early on in my teaching career I was preparing some slides for a session around design research methods, after compiling all the slides I realised my sources were drawn from dominant western societies so I tried to look for some examples that were not. In doing so I came across a pdf of Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s book ‘Decolonizing Methodologies’ and quickly went through the book to find examples of Indigenous research method to add to my slides. But when reading more of the book I realised what I was doing wrong, Smith writes that the book is written primarily to help themselves and bring Maori people being viewed as research objects to Maori people being their own researchers (Smith, 1999). Reflecting on this I was about to take from this community and misplace their context, I was not the person the methods were designed for or the right person to take and share them in this way, instead of a displacing mindset one of more nuance and care was needed here.
As a designer and leaner I am excited and inspired by new thoughts and ideas, yet one of my limitations is being a product of my education system as well as the western capitalist society I live in, therefore It is important to champion and respect the work of diverse communities (as allies or mentors). Danah Abdulla states the choices we make as designers is political and has potential to exclude and to oppress, but by engaging with the history of colonialism this will make us more aware around how power structures have formed society and how they dominate what we understand as design (Khandwala, 2019).
My Intervention
There is an urgency to decolonise Art and Design education so that the diverse student body of UAL can be reflected in the curriculum (Patel, 2019) campaigns such as ‘Why is my curriculum white?’ (Fig 1) aim to embed race equality into teaching as well as minimise euro-centric bias into curriculum design (Doharty et al., 2020).
Yet as the previous section highlights this isn’t easy to practise, decolonisation as Anoushka Khandwala puts it is about changing the way we think, by acknowledging that in Western society we live in systems of privilege and oppression (Khandwala, 2019). A dominant canon of work produced by European and American male designer has undermined work produced by designers from non-western cultures and lower income backgrounds (Khandwala, 2019), this needs to change, this dominant canon is what I was taught as being “good” design, and highlights the gaps and limitations in my positionally.
In order to change our mindsets as Dr Gurnam Singh mentions dialogue can be a vehicle to engage in critical pedagogy (Vikki Hill, 2018). And as Asif Sadiq mentions on diversity training, learning through stories by getting groups of colleagues together to share their experiences is impactful, as we learn through each other and through human engagement (Sadiq, 2023).
With the principles above in mind my intervention takes the form of a short communal event, called ‘Critical Café’. It serves as a space in which staff on the Biodesign course at CSM (and eventually all staff members) can share, challenge and diversify their design references, knowledge and sources.
I haven’t been able to test my event but I envision it taking place once a month during term time on Wednesdays between 13:45 to 14:00 a time when people may normally grab a coffee or drink before returning to work. I will prepare and bring a series of reference cards (fig 2) chosen based on themes of inclusion and decolonisation some may highlight more of a social justice or intersectional mindset (though I don’t want to categorise or box a source too much), it is important when selecting the cards to choose from diverse sources beyond my existing knowledge base, this will be highlighted on the card. I will also provide a series of blank cards for staff to add any of their own references to (which can be prepared for the next event). A series of light prompts can also be prepared in which staff are invited to share, comment, challenge or adopt the references. The aim is to build an archive of sources, to trigger creativity, collaboration and knowledge sharing (Välk et al., 2022) as well as a create a space for discussion to make a dent in the debates in decolonising design and Biodesign.
Inclusion and Intersectionality
UAL has a high proportion of international students, on my course alone (Fig 3) international students account for nearly 72% of the cohort, that is 38 international students out of 53 (UAL, Active Dashboards 2024). International students are not accounted for in the equality, diversity and inclusion reports UAL publishes (UAL, Equality objectives and reports 2024) or in the Ethnic Representative Index (UAL, Ethnic Representation Index 2024). International students intersect with political issues, immigration as well as University funding systems and face barriers to support (Migrants’ Rights Network, 2024). Is it possible to go beyond the optical notions of diversity to offer a curriculum that reflects on the diverse international student body that makes up UAL, and create better change for everyone ?
Early on in the IP module the term intersectionality was introduced to us, coined by Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw to address how different aspects of oppression intersect and overlap with aspects of someone’s identity (The Institute of Art and Ideas, 2021). I wondered how intersectionality might be applied in a design context and came across a review of a symposium organised by the Decolonising Design Group. The Allies and Decoloniality (Workshop) by Jabe Bloom and Dimeji Onafuwa offered some interesting insights which informed my intervention, they got participants to consider intersectionality as a way to be more critically aware of our own conditions and experiences and those of other people in the world (Onafuwa, 2018). A tool they used was the ‘Appropriation versus Allying Strategies Matrix’ to help people map distinctions between the two as well as understand spaces where those lines may be blurred (Onafuwa, 2018). These approaches informed my intervention as a way to use prompts.
As mentioned the choice of cards (Fig 4) in my intervention will be selected based on an intersectional mindset, highlighting references such as in the case of ‘Queer Theory of lichens’ example where sexuality intersects with gender and queerness as well as human and non-human organisms. Social Justice is another theme in which my intervention considers, in another card example Deepa Butoliya’s methodology of critical Jugaad was selected as a valid alternative to western narratives of design to interrogate and critique repressive power structures and practises (Atzmon, L, 2023).
The ‘Critical Café’ event part of the intervention is designed to bring together the perspectives and identities of staff creating an intersectional knowledge base when reviewing as well as offering their own references. I am no expert or authority here and shouldn’t be, this is why a community way of engaging is needed to hopeful create a space that can benefit all.
Reflections on Feedback
Feedback sessions with my peers and tutor helped me to develop and shape the intervention idea. The blog group mentioned the idea was a good way to invite the community to build on and be involved and bring different perspectives. They asked about logistics and if the cards would be physical or digital, mentioning platforms like Padlet if digital. I agreed with some members of the group that lots of digital cards are overwhelming, and liked the tangibility of having a few cards laid out at a time to engage and converse around. My Tutor mentioned the idea was a good way to create change by looking at things differently as well as bringing staff together.
From my colleague on the MA Biodesign course, we discussed the design of the cards, she suggested if an authors positionally could be shown, as well as ways to theme the cards and suggested it could be a method for students to adopt in an assessment by submitting five cards each. I liked the idea of the positionally being shown, but there was not enough space to do this I will include this during the session if appropriate. Eventually I hope the intervention will feed into student experiences on the course in various ways. (complete feedback notes are documented in the appendix section).
When suggesting how to implement fungal teachings into our lives, Ostendorf-Rodríguez (2023, p. 308) makes us aware that interesting conversations occur when we are relaxed and not just sitting behind a computer, such as socialising over coffee, we learn from one another and it can help ease the burdens on ourselves when we do things as a group. Ultimately my intervention seeks to create a platform where groups of colleagues can come together to share their experiences and learn from each other in the process (Sadiq, 2023).
References:
Atzmon, L. (2023) Design & Science. 1st Edition . London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Bayeck, R.Y. (2022) ‘Positionality: The interplay of space, context and identity’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, pp. 1–9. doi:10.1177/16094069221114745.
Doharty, N., Madriaga, M. and Joseph-Salisbury, R. (2020) ‘The university went to “decolonise” and all they brought back was lousy diversity double-SPEAK! critical race counter-stories from faculty of colour in “decolonial” times’, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 53(3), pp. 233–244. doi:10.1080/00131857.2020.1769601.
Khandwala, A. (2019) What does it mean to decolonize design?, Eye on Design. Available at: https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-does-it-mean-to-decolonize-design/ (Accessed: 23 July 2024).
Migrants’ Rights Network (2024) The Hostile Office-International Students. Available at: https://migrantsrights.org.uk/projects/hostile-office/international-students/ (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
Ostendorf-Rodríguez, Y. (2023) Let’s become fungal!: Mycelium teachings and the arts. Amsterdam: Valiz.
Onafuwa, D. (2018) ‘Allies and Decoloniality: A Review of the Intersectional Perspectives on Design, Politics, and Power Symposium’, Design and Culture, 10(1), pp. 7–15. doi: 10.1080/17547075.2018.1430995.
Patel, R. (2019) ‘Why is my curriculum white’, Decolonising the Arts Curriculum Zine (Issue 2), p. 29 Available at: https://issuu.com/theexchangeual/docs/final_v_online_zine2 (24th Jully 2024).
Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online]. Youtube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw (Accessed: 23 July 2024).
Smith, L. T. (1999) Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples . 12th Impression. London: Zed Books.
The Institute of Art and Ideas (2021) Kimberle Crenshaw on Intersectionality | The Big Idea. 18 November. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BnAW4NyOak&t=207s (24 July 2024).
UAL (2024) Active Dashboards. Available at: https://dashboards.arts.ac.uk (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
UAL(2024) Equality objectives and reports. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/public-information/equality-objectives-and-reports (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
UAL (2024) Ethnic Representation Index. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/equality-and-diversity/ethnic-representation-index (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
UAL (2024) Postgraduate MA Biodesign. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/textiles-and-materials/postgraduate/ma-biodesign-csm (Accessed: 20 July 2024).
Välk, S. et al. (2022) ‘Supporting collaborative biodesign ideation with contextualised knowledge from bioscience’, CoDesign, 19(2), pp. 142–161. doi:10.1080/15710882.2022.2138447.
Vikki Hill (2018) Critical Pedagogy #4 ‘What does it look like in practice?’ – Vikki Hill with Dr Gurnam Singh. 9 March. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ghTlyBDNk (Accessed: 23 July 2024).
List of Images:
Figure 1. Adeola Gay research from final year London project Not* on the Shelf from:
Patel, R. (2019) ‘Why is my curriculum white’, Decolonising the Arts Curriculum Zine (Issue 2), p. 29 Available at: https://issuu.com/theexchangeual/docs/final_v_online_zine2 (24th Jully 2024).
Figure 2. Reference cards with blank card examples
Figure 3. UAL dashboard data for MA Biodesign from:
UAL (2024) Active Dashboards. Available at: https://dashboards.arts.ac.uk (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
Figure 4. Close up of four of the Reference cards
Appendix:
Notes from discussion with blog group
Bring in the physicality of it the cards
How would they be made? Will this take time? Could it be a blank card?
Could it be a ‘Padlet’ resource as well but could get overwhelming.
Different perspectives, invitation for community building and involvement
Multicoloured pens
Staff perspective
Work on the logistics of the event to trial
Notes from discussion with tutor
Discuss process thinking about doing.
How it is part of my practise. How thinking of implementing it?
Key thing to tease out. Inclusion, social justice, or intersectionality at centre of it
New way of seeing things. Creating change, looking at things differently
In conclusion:
Critique about current practise and what seeking to do, outcomes.
Looking more internally, inclusion always a theme.
Bringing staff together.
Notes from discussion with a colleague on the MA Biodesign
Bi-monthly might be too ambitious
Likes the idea of the flash cards how it can grow?
The students have a wider breadth of knowledge about specific topics that would be good to share and make known.
Could be good to develop it further into a deliverable for students as a form of assessment, they could submit 5 cards. Where else could it be used with students?
It could be part of the M school meeting or JTM meeting
What will the cards look like?
What size are they? A5 or A6
Authors positionally as sometimes we don’t know
Where they are based
If it is a group or individual
Instagram or link QR code
Be good to theme the cards could relate to themes from new course handbook (biomaterials, food etc)
Disclaimer way of sharing knowledge discussion will form, I am not an expert here just finding a way to group together more diverse references