Papers by Yénika Castillo Muñoz
Revista Diseña
Decolonization is a situated effort as it relates to the relations of privilege, power, politics,... more Decolonization is a situated effort as it relates to the relations of privilege, power, politics, and access (3P-A, in Albarrán González’s terms) between the people involved in design in relation to wider societies. This complexity creates certain challenges for how we can understand, learn about, and nurture decolonization in design towards pluriversality, since such decolonizing effort is based on the relationship between specific individuals and the collective. In this paper, we present and discuss the ‘River project’, a participatory space for decolonizing design, created for designers and practitioners to reflect on their own 3P-A as a way to create awareness of their own oppressive potential in design work. These joint reflections challenged ideas of participation and shaped learning processes between the participants, bringing to the foreground the importance of seeing and allowing for a plurality of life and work worlds to be brought together. We build on the learnings from ...
Design, Oppression, and Liberation 22(2), 2023
Decolonization is a situated effort as it relates to the relations of privilege, power, politics,... more Decolonization is a situated effort as it relates to the relations of privilege, power, politics, and access (3P-A, in Albarrán González’s terms) between the people involved in design in relation to wider societies. This complexity creates certain challenges for how we can understand, learn about, and nurture decolonization in design towards pluriversality, since such decolonizing effort is based on the relationship between specific
individuals and the collective. In this paper, we present and discuss the ‘River project’, a participatory space for decolonizing design, created for designers and practitioners to reflect on their own 3P-A as a way to create
awareness of their own oppressive potential in design work. These joint reflections challenged ideas of participation and shaped learning processes between the participants, bringing to the foreground the importance of seeing and allowing for a plurality of life and work worlds to be brought together. We build on the learnings from this project to propose
the notions of pluriversal participation, pluriversal presence, and pluriversal
directionality, which can help nurture decolonizing designs towards pluriversality. We conclude by arguing that, for nurturing pluriversality through Participatory Design, participation, presence, and direction must be equally pluriversal.
Malmö universitet/Kultur och samhälle, 2020
ENG
This interaction design thesis contributes to the discussion in Decolonial design, and in pa... more ENG
This interaction design thesis contributes to the discussion in Decolonial design, and in particular it explores diasporic identities of Latin American migrants. Between adaptation and assimilation, several questions arise: About traces, values, practices and the materialities of these aspects, as well as the challenges for Interaction design and its methods to address them.The design outcome is the concept of a collective identity territory expressed in an interactive map, that is continuously woven digitally through an app interface. The map is populated with memories, songs, recipes and dreams that materialise the diasporic situatedness. I consider it a critical fabulation on what maps can be. The contribution of the outcome appeals to the notion of the Pluriverse to decolonise the notions of hybridity, identity and territory.The research departs from the notions of Chicano and transnational feminism, postcolonial and decolonial theories, epistemologies of the South and critical design. In the center of the design process is the collective speculation, using codesign methods to encourage shared reflections through visual and verbal resources. A new method explores the narrative qualities of lines to weave and wander the interactive map.
SVE
Den här interaktionsdesign uppsatsen bidrar till en omgående diskussion på Avkoloniserande design. Särskild genom att utforska identiteter i diaspora med latinamerikanska migranter. Mellan anpassning och total assimilation flera frågor dyker upp, om värderingar, egenskaper och vanor, och de materiella uttryck av dessa aspekter såsom de utmaningarna för interaktionsdesign och deras metoder. Resultatet är en kollektiv territorium uttryckt som en interaktiv karta som kontinuerligt vävas genom en smartphone app. Kartan fylls med minnen, låtar, matrecept och drömmar som förverkliga de identiteterna i diaspora (diasporic situatedness). Kartan är en kritisk fabulering om vad kartorna är och kan bli. Kartan vädjar till uppfattningen av den Pluriversum för att avkolonisera begreppen som hybriditet, identitet och territorium. Forskningen avgår från Chicano- och transnationella feminism, postkoloniala och avkoloniala teorier, epistemologier från Södern och kritisk design. I processens hjärta ligger den kollektiva spekulation, genom codesign metoder för att uppmuntra delade funderingar och diskussioner, med visuella och verbala resurser. En ny metod undersöker de berättande egenskaper av linjer för att väva och vandra den interaktiva kartan.
This project explores storytelling tools for the collaborative work with persons in vulnerable si... more This project explores storytelling tools for the collaborative work with persons in vulnerable situation, in this case, a group of unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan, living in Umeå, Sweden. The concept presented is the prototype of an eating experierence, BAHAM bolani: An idea for a social company where the participants are active into creating their own possibilities to stay in Sweden. With their own stories, they fill in the gap of how unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers are depicted in the dominant narrative. It is them providing meaning to the design concept. The theoretical approach is from a decolonising and feminist point of view, with collaborative design methods. In the discussion, I debate the need of more listening tools for the design community based on these theories, because they allow the designer to challenge their own cultural assumptions, and meet the participants in a more humble and equal way, especially when working with persons in vulnerable situations
Pluriversal Design Special Interest Group, 2021
Migration and diaspora are phenomenons that are continuously shaping the world, and
that are cau... more Migration and diaspora are phenomenons that are continuously shaping the world, and
that are caused and informed by colonial structures. The communities in diaspora are held together by particular ways of imagining and relating with the homeland, the host culture, and themselves, touching back into the local. In the experience of migrating and becoming part of a diaspora, our identities shift, as we enter a state of tension between total assimilation and resistance, questioning our national hegemonic values and ways of being.
As a designer with migrated roots, I would like to share some experiences and thoughts about working in codesign processes with migrant communities: How do we matter our worlds from a diasporic situatedness, and what does this mean in terms of encouraging decolonial processes in design? Which strategies might help us challenging our assumptions as designers? Ultimately, I want to continue conversations about the role of design into materialising dissent and contestation towards the hegemonic systems, centering migrant and diasporic ways of being.
How might these reflections inspire us for future practices in design?
Master Thesis - 2 years, 2020
This interaction design thesis contributes to the discussion in Decolonial design, and in particu... more This interaction design thesis contributes to the discussion in Decolonial design, and in particular it explores diasporic identities of Latin American migrants. Between adaptation and assimilation, several questions arise: About traces, values, practices and the materialities of these aspects, as well as the challenges for Interaction design and its methods to address them.
The design outcome is the concept of a collective identity territory expressed in an interactive map, that is continuously woven digitally through an app interface. The map is populated with memories, songs, recipes and dreams that materialise the diasporic situatedness. I consider it a critical fabulation on what maps can be. The contribution of the outcome appeals to the notion of the Pluriverse to decolonise the notions of hybridity, identity and territory.
The research departs from the notions of Chicano and transnational feminism, postcolonial and decolonial theories, epistemologies of the South and critical design. In the center of the design process is the collective speculation, using codesign methods to encourage shared reflections through visual and verbal resources. A new method explores the narrative qualities of lines to weave and wander the interactive map.
Keywords: Decolonial design, design for decoloniality, speculative design, transnational and chicano feminism, migration, interaction design
Master thesis - 1 year, 2018
This project explores storytelling tools for the collaborative work with persons in vulnerable si... more This project explores storytelling tools for the collaborative work with persons in vulnerable situation, in this case, a group of unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan living in Umeå, Sweden.
The concept presented is the prototype of an eating experierence, BAHAM bolani: An idea for a social company where the participants are active into creating their own possibilities to stay in Sweden. With their own stories, they fill in the gap of how unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers are depicted in the dominant narrative. It is them providing meaning to the design concept.
The theoretical approach is from a decolonising and feminist point of view, with collaborative design methods.
In the discussion, I debate the need of more listening tools for the design community based on these theories, because they allow the designer to challenge their own cultural assumptions, and meet the participants in a more humble and equal way, especially when working with persons in vulnerable situations.
Keywords:
interaction design; social innovation; experience design; collaborative methods; decolonising theories; feminism
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Papers by Yénika Castillo Muñoz
individuals and the collective. In this paper, we present and discuss the ‘River project’, a participatory space for decolonizing design, created for designers and practitioners to reflect on their own 3P-A as a way to create
awareness of their own oppressive potential in design work. These joint reflections challenged ideas of participation and shaped learning processes between the participants, bringing to the foreground the importance of seeing and allowing for a plurality of life and work worlds to be brought together. We build on the learnings from this project to propose
the notions of pluriversal participation, pluriversal presence, and pluriversal
directionality, which can help nurture decolonizing designs towards pluriversality. We conclude by arguing that, for nurturing pluriversality through Participatory Design, participation, presence, and direction must be equally pluriversal.
This interaction design thesis contributes to the discussion in Decolonial design, and in particular it explores diasporic identities of Latin American migrants. Between adaptation and assimilation, several questions arise: About traces, values, practices and the materialities of these aspects, as well as the challenges for Interaction design and its methods to address them.The design outcome is the concept of a collective identity territory expressed in an interactive map, that is continuously woven digitally through an app interface. The map is populated with memories, songs, recipes and dreams that materialise the diasporic situatedness. I consider it a critical fabulation on what maps can be. The contribution of the outcome appeals to the notion of the Pluriverse to decolonise the notions of hybridity, identity and territory.The research departs from the notions of Chicano and transnational feminism, postcolonial and decolonial theories, epistemologies of the South and critical design. In the center of the design process is the collective speculation, using codesign methods to encourage shared reflections through visual and verbal resources. A new method explores the narrative qualities of lines to weave and wander the interactive map.
SVE
Den här interaktionsdesign uppsatsen bidrar till en omgående diskussion på Avkoloniserande design. Särskild genom att utforska identiteter i diaspora med latinamerikanska migranter. Mellan anpassning och total assimilation flera frågor dyker upp, om värderingar, egenskaper och vanor, och de materiella uttryck av dessa aspekter såsom de utmaningarna för interaktionsdesign och deras metoder. Resultatet är en kollektiv territorium uttryckt som en interaktiv karta som kontinuerligt vävas genom en smartphone app. Kartan fylls med minnen, låtar, matrecept och drömmar som förverkliga de identiteterna i diaspora (diasporic situatedness). Kartan är en kritisk fabulering om vad kartorna är och kan bli. Kartan vädjar till uppfattningen av den Pluriversum för att avkolonisera begreppen som hybriditet, identitet och territorium. Forskningen avgår från Chicano- och transnationella feminism, postkoloniala och avkoloniala teorier, epistemologier från Södern och kritisk design. I processens hjärta ligger den kollektiva spekulation, genom codesign metoder för att uppmuntra delade funderingar och diskussioner, med visuella och verbala resurser. En ny metod undersöker de berättande egenskaper av linjer för att väva och vandra den interaktiva kartan.
that are caused and informed by colonial structures. The communities in diaspora are held together by particular ways of imagining and relating with the homeland, the host culture, and themselves, touching back into the local. In the experience of migrating and becoming part of a diaspora, our identities shift, as we enter a state of tension between total assimilation and resistance, questioning our national hegemonic values and ways of being.
As a designer with migrated roots, I would like to share some experiences and thoughts about working in codesign processes with migrant communities: How do we matter our worlds from a diasporic situatedness, and what does this mean in terms of encouraging decolonial processes in design? Which strategies might help us challenging our assumptions as designers? Ultimately, I want to continue conversations about the role of design into materialising dissent and contestation towards the hegemonic systems, centering migrant and diasporic ways of being.
How might these reflections inspire us for future practices in design?
The design outcome is the concept of a collective identity territory expressed in an interactive map, that is continuously woven digitally through an app interface. The map is populated with memories, songs, recipes and dreams that materialise the diasporic situatedness. I consider it a critical fabulation on what maps can be. The contribution of the outcome appeals to the notion of the Pluriverse to decolonise the notions of hybridity, identity and territory.
The research departs from the notions of Chicano and transnational feminism, postcolonial and decolonial theories, epistemologies of the South and critical design. In the center of the design process is the collective speculation, using codesign methods to encourage shared reflections through visual and verbal resources. A new method explores the narrative qualities of lines to weave and wander the interactive map.
Keywords: Decolonial design, design for decoloniality, speculative design, transnational and chicano feminism, migration, interaction design
The concept presented is the prototype of an eating experierence, BAHAM bolani: An idea for a social company where the participants are active into creating their own possibilities to stay in Sweden. With their own stories, they fill in the gap of how unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers are depicted in the dominant narrative. It is them providing meaning to the design concept.
The theoretical approach is from a decolonising and feminist point of view, with collaborative design methods.
In the discussion, I debate the need of more listening tools for the design community based on these theories, because they allow the designer to challenge their own cultural assumptions, and meet the participants in a more humble and equal way, especially when working with persons in vulnerable situations.
Keywords:
interaction design; social innovation; experience design; collaborative methods; decolonising theories; feminism
individuals and the collective. In this paper, we present and discuss the ‘River project’, a participatory space for decolonizing design, created for designers and practitioners to reflect on their own 3P-A as a way to create
awareness of their own oppressive potential in design work. These joint reflections challenged ideas of participation and shaped learning processes between the participants, bringing to the foreground the importance of seeing and allowing for a plurality of life and work worlds to be brought together. We build on the learnings from this project to propose
the notions of pluriversal participation, pluriversal presence, and pluriversal
directionality, which can help nurture decolonizing designs towards pluriversality. We conclude by arguing that, for nurturing pluriversality through Participatory Design, participation, presence, and direction must be equally pluriversal.
This interaction design thesis contributes to the discussion in Decolonial design, and in particular it explores diasporic identities of Latin American migrants. Between adaptation and assimilation, several questions arise: About traces, values, practices and the materialities of these aspects, as well as the challenges for Interaction design and its methods to address them.The design outcome is the concept of a collective identity territory expressed in an interactive map, that is continuously woven digitally through an app interface. The map is populated with memories, songs, recipes and dreams that materialise the diasporic situatedness. I consider it a critical fabulation on what maps can be. The contribution of the outcome appeals to the notion of the Pluriverse to decolonise the notions of hybridity, identity and territory.The research departs from the notions of Chicano and transnational feminism, postcolonial and decolonial theories, epistemologies of the South and critical design. In the center of the design process is the collective speculation, using codesign methods to encourage shared reflections through visual and verbal resources. A new method explores the narrative qualities of lines to weave and wander the interactive map.
SVE
Den här interaktionsdesign uppsatsen bidrar till en omgående diskussion på Avkoloniserande design. Särskild genom att utforska identiteter i diaspora med latinamerikanska migranter. Mellan anpassning och total assimilation flera frågor dyker upp, om värderingar, egenskaper och vanor, och de materiella uttryck av dessa aspekter såsom de utmaningarna för interaktionsdesign och deras metoder. Resultatet är en kollektiv territorium uttryckt som en interaktiv karta som kontinuerligt vävas genom en smartphone app. Kartan fylls med minnen, låtar, matrecept och drömmar som förverkliga de identiteterna i diaspora (diasporic situatedness). Kartan är en kritisk fabulering om vad kartorna är och kan bli. Kartan vädjar till uppfattningen av den Pluriversum för att avkolonisera begreppen som hybriditet, identitet och territorium. Forskningen avgår från Chicano- och transnationella feminism, postkoloniala och avkoloniala teorier, epistemologier från Södern och kritisk design. I processens hjärta ligger den kollektiva spekulation, genom codesign metoder för att uppmuntra delade funderingar och diskussioner, med visuella och verbala resurser. En ny metod undersöker de berättande egenskaper av linjer för att väva och vandra den interaktiva kartan.
that are caused and informed by colonial structures. The communities in diaspora are held together by particular ways of imagining and relating with the homeland, the host culture, and themselves, touching back into the local. In the experience of migrating and becoming part of a diaspora, our identities shift, as we enter a state of tension between total assimilation and resistance, questioning our national hegemonic values and ways of being.
As a designer with migrated roots, I would like to share some experiences and thoughts about working in codesign processes with migrant communities: How do we matter our worlds from a diasporic situatedness, and what does this mean in terms of encouraging decolonial processes in design? Which strategies might help us challenging our assumptions as designers? Ultimately, I want to continue conversations about the role of design into materialising dissent and contestation towards the hegemonic systems, centering migrant and diasporic ways of being.
How might these reflections inspire us for future practices in design?
The design outcome is the concept of a collective identity territory expressed in an interactive map, that is continuously woven digitally through an app interface. The map is populated with memories, songs, recipes and dreams that materialise the diasporic situatedness. I consider it a critical fabulation on what maps can be. The contribution of the outcome appeals to the notion of the Pluriverse to decolonise the notions of hybridity, identity and territory.
The research departs from the notions of Chicano and transnational feminism, postcolonial and decolonial theories, epistemologies of the South and critical design. In the center of the design process is the collective speculation, using codesign methods to encourage shared reflections through visual and verbal resources. A new method explores the narrative qualities of lines to weave and wander the interactive map.
Keywords: Decolonial design, design for decoloniality, speculative design, transnational and chicano feminism, migration, interaction design
The concept presented is the prototype of an eating experierence, BAHAM bolani: An idea for a social company where the participants are active into creating their own possibilities to stay in Sweden. With their own stories, they fill in the gap of how unaccompanied minors and asylum seekers are depicted in the dominant narrative. It is them providing meaning to the design concept.
The theoretical approach is from a decolonising and feminist point of view, with collaborative design methods.
In the discussion, I debate the need of more listening tools for the design community based on these theories, because they allow the designer to challenge their own cultural assumptions, and meet the participants in a more humble and equal way, especially when working with persons in vulnerable situations.
Keywords:
interaction design; social innovation; experience design; collaborative methods; decolonising theories; feminism