Decolonising design in peacebuilding contexts

“Fests of Vests”: The Politics of Participation in Neoliberal Peacebuilding in Colombia

“…Often, these demands were justified by the shared trajectory of corporate‐led spatial exclusion and the need to achieve inter‐ethnic agreements that ensure greater enforceability vis‐à‐vis the state (Escobar‐Tello et al. 2021). However, by not having participated in the early discussions at the veredas , the organisations’ ability to influence the Pactos Municipales was limited.…”

“…In the municipios 2 of Buenos Aires, Miranda and Corinto, we held workshops and interviews with Afro‐Colombians, indigenous people, mestizo peasants and ex‐combatants to learn from their trajectories of struggle (Escobar‐Tello et al. 2021). In addition, 27 semi‐structured interviews were conducted with public officials from the outgoing administration of President Santos and the incoming government of President Duque 3 .…”

“…In this context, between 2017 and 2020, an interdisciplinary team, including human geographers, anthropologists and political scientists from Colombia and the United Kingdom, attended meetings between local populations and public authorities to discuss the implementation of the Agreement. In the municipios 2 of Buenos Aires, Miranda and Corinto, we held workshops and interviews with Afro-Colombians, indigenous people, mestizo peasants and ex-combatants to learn from their trajectories of struggle (Escobar-Tello et al 2021). In addition, 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted with public officials from the outgoing administration of President Santos and the incoming government of President Duque.…”

Counteracting Dominant Design Through Intersectional Feminist Thought

“…The practice of designing and its outcomes have recently been critically questioned regarding social and political implications. As a result, research about design -theory and practice, has begun to investigate how artifacts including objects, technologies, services, and environments govern and inform experiences in society (Abdulla et al, 2019;Escobar-Tello et al, 2021;Escobar, 2018;Martins, 2014).…”

“…Specifically, some scholars suggest that if all design-led artifacts "bring about particular ways of being, knowing, and doing" (Escobar, 2018, p. x), design has social shaping qualities that establish, reproduce, and impose certain realities (Escobar-Tello et al, 2021;Mazé, 2019). Importantly in this sense, this is the understanding that design is never politically neutral, or as political theorist Langdon Winner (1980) posits, "artifacts have politics".…”