Module Content

You will study how anthropologists engage with the various design disciplines. The early stages of the course cover processes and products of design anthropology, and the second half looks at politics and proposals for what difference design makes in society. At Masters level, you will form teams of researchers of 4-6 people, each working with an external organisation or designer to produce micro-ethnographic studies and interpretations which can inform their design problems and issues, both by providing constructive data, and by cultural critique of their work.

Indicative Topics

The problems of creativity.
	Design anthropology: knowledge economy or studio work?
	Interpretations of design culture.
	Futuring.
	Values-based design.
	The experience economy.
Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, you should:

Be able to undertake anthropological work in a group.
	Know how to produce ethnographic research data for a particular design issue.
	Be able to develop outputs which are suitable for dialogues about culture, not only individual interpretations.
	Know key critiques of the problems of design work and design politics.
	Be familiar with key interpretations of design, and its contemporary significance as a key global cultural field.
	Be able to collaborate with non-anthropologists, in design professions.
Teaching Delivery

There will be two sessions per week. One session will comprise of a lecture and discussion of key publications, research and theorisations of design and design anthropological knowledge. The other session will be devoted to supporting the team practicals. Because team projects are due to be presented in the Summer, each team will have a 2-4 hour groupwork slot after Easter, to help prepare their project for presentation.

Because we pre-arrange the collaborators, usually four, the module may be capped at around 24 students so as to ensure each team is maximum 6. Each year, we pre-decide a theme (eg. in 2019-20 ‘Environment’), and approach four relevant different kinds of collaborator. At least one is a private company, at least one is public sector or heritage, and at least one is a charity or third sector, to cover different students’ interests.