Participatory Design: From Helping to Solidarity
CSPL 220
Fall 2017
| Section:
01
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| Course Cluster: Education Studies Minor |
As artists and designers increasingly turn their efforts to altering conditions for the vulnerable and oppressed, stubborn questions arise around the ethics of engagement. Socially engaged projects seek meaningful change, yet often discourage dissent, reify privilege, remain agnostic about outcomes, and do little to alter larger, structural inequalities. Artists and designers can easily exit projects deemed failures and write these off as learning experiences. Moving from one social injustice to the next, crises and suffering become "sites" from which to develop serialized projects. Armed with empathy and expertise, but with little local knowledge, these practitioners struggle to form equitable relationships with partners and collaborators. This course will examine a range of projects initiated by artists and designers and will challenge the idea that helping is beyond reproach. The course asks how artists and designers might better situate themselves as allies through developing practices that foster solidarity, exercise humility, and distribute agency. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS CSPL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (EDST) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Readings include a variety of articles and excerpts including, but not limited to: Hannah Arendt, ON REVOLUTION; Claire Bishop, THE SOCIAL TURN: COLLABORATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS
Luc Boltanski, DISTANT SUFFERING; Pierre Bourdieu, DELEGATION AND POLITICAL FETISHISM; Pelle Ehn, PARTICIPATION IN DESIGN THINGS; Jordan Flaherty, NO MORE HEROES; David Graeber, ARMY OF ALTRUISTS; Shannon Jackson, SOCIAL WORKS: PERFORMING ART, SUPPORTING PUBLICS; Grant Kester, AESTETIC EVANGELISTS; Miwon Kwon, ONE PLACE AFTER ANOTHER; Ezio Manzini, WHEN EVERYBODY DESIGNS; Victor Margolin, A SOCIAL MODEL OF DESIGN; Chantal Mouffe, ART AND DEMOCRACY; Jacques Rancière, THE EMANCIPATED SPECTATOR
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Examinations and Assignments:
Several assignments that emphasize writing but can explore the use of other media along with a final project and presentation. |
| Instructor(s): Adams,Barbara Times: .M.W... 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: ALLB004; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 7 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 4 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 6 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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