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Paper Short Abstract:

This paper discusses our experience of teaching design anthropology for design students. We discuss the possibility of moving beyond the introduction of anthropology from a theoretical perspective to knowing anthropology through and from within design.

Paper Abstract:

This communication discusses the experience of teaching the mandatory subject of Design Anthropology in the design degree of the Open University of Catalonia, offering insights into how this can support both designers and anthropologists to navigate contemporary societal change. This virtual course seeks an alternative approach to the challenge of introducing anthropology to design students, shifting from pure theory to incorporating anthropology directly into design practices.

Our approach places ethnography at the forefront to teach design anthropology. We encourage students to go through a process of opening design to the community, not just to introduce them to ethnographic description but to facilitate their interaction with local communities. Here, ethnography is positioned as a perspective and a process, "decentering" designers towards the discovery of alternative ways of living and doing things. This process challenges students to transcend individual creativity and consider unforeseen perspectives in the design process.

Positioned as a foundational step preceding participation methods, co-creation, or co-design processes, this exercise tasks students with designing "for" the community. We push designers to reframe problems based on what they learn, embracing multiple perspectives, emotions and relationships, while fostering openness to cultural and functional diversity. In doing so, we also promote deep understanding of people and problems through situated experiences, approaching design as a research process and as a reflexive practice that can also contribute to anthropological knowledge. Ultimately, we explore the engagements of design and anthropology in a double direction, in which both can contribute to one and another symmetrically.