Decolonial Design Thinking

Aishwarya Vardhana
CARRE4
Published in
7 min readNov 11, 2020

By Aishwarya Vardhana IG: @shweeze

In collaboration with Eni Asebiomo, Colin Kimzey, Siddhant Madhuk, Jelani Munroe, and Meghana Rao.

“In the Akan culture of western Africa there is the symbol of the sankofa, a bird reaching back to retrieve the past to use in the way forward — this is the sort of progress that is demanded by decolonization.” — Erik Ritskes, Intercontinental Cry

Sankofa poster by Donna Lee Bolden Kerr

Intro

The rise of the U.S. as a colonial and imperial power is largely credited to industrialization and racialized capitalism (Virdee, 2019). Over the last one hundred years, technological advancement in military, surveillance, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, software, and manufacturing — to name a few — have propelled the U.S. to the highest rungs of global economic and military power. As the America (the year is 2020) openly discusses systemic racism and racialized capitalism for the first time, we must acknowledge that the goal of “liberty and justice for all” is undermined by the colonial edifice upon which we wish to build.

There are many of us who wish to design and develop imaginative, prosocial technology that benefits and prolongs all forms of life. In this essay, I propose that developing decolonial technology, technology that “aspires to restore, elevate, renew, rediscover the multiplicity of lives, lived-experiences, culture and knowledge of Indigenous people, people of color, and colonized people as well as to decenter hetero/cis-normativity, gender hierarchies and racial privilege”, should be the primary objective of anyone in the tech community with an interest in justice or ethics (William & Mary). I also propose that decolonization and mass people’s movements can and should expand to include tech workers and technological vision. Lastly, I express my interest in developing a framework, known as Decolonial Design Thinking, for developing decolonial technology.

As we wade deeper into the 21st century, the status quo argues that we are “progressing”. But when we say “the world is becoming a better place”, what logic dictates this idea? From whose perspective is this time period “better”? What if we looked outside colonialism for a different logic and definition of progress?

This in essence is decolonial theory. As an introduction, I propose that we look at modernity through an Indigenous framework. This lens shows modernity in its ugliest form, not as a period of equality and human innovation, but as a period of domination and death. For Indigenous peoples globally, modernity has been apocalyptic. Modernity brought forth Indigenous genocide and devastation to sovereign land, and these exact heinous acts have been justified in the name of progress.

Where does technology come in

Mass social movements such as the Movement for Black Lives, #MeToo, or Occupy Wall Street need creative technological support. I experienced this need firsthand in 2015 as a student activist and organizer for Black Lives Matter. As young activists trying to change the criminal justice system, we struggled to control our narrative. In 2015, an antagonistic news media exacerbated negative public sentiment towards BLM. While Twitter was critical in catalyzing the movement, it was not designed to meet the nuanced needs of BLM. There were social, political, and cultural factors for Twitter to identify, weigh, and synthesize into a product and user experience that would have augmented the vision of BLM. However, with no precedent, framework, or financial incentive for doing so, Twitter did not rise to the occasion, and I believe this was to the detriment of BLM. Twitter missed an opportunity to shift tech culture by centering vulnerable peoples, but relying on social media giants to restructure themselves is a pipe dream.

It is currently difficult for tech workers to assist social movements without a robust understanding of the concepts and human experiences underpinning the movement. While there are innumerable “CS + social good” or “tech for positive social impact” efforts, I believe there lacks an epistemological foundation that gives weight and teeth to these initiatives. We need frameworks and theory for designing anti-racist, anti-colonial (different from decolonial) technology; I believe such a body of knowledge would radically transform both technology and social justice. As someone who operates in tech and organizing spaces, I have seen the disconnect but believe there is ample opportunity for connectivity. For example, this past June during the second wave of Black Lives Matter, my tech friends working on cutting-edge technology wrung their hands helplessly. The best solution they arrived at was to build websites for Black businesses. I envision a world where there is theory and infrastructure in place that positions tech workers to not only effectively respond in the moment, but ensures a year-round coalition working towards dismantling systemic racism.

Proposal

I am interested in developing, documenting, and propagating a creative design framework called Decolonial Design Thinking (DDT), a methodology for developing decolonial technology. To do this I hope to work in community with decolonial theorists and activists, technologists, Indigenous and Black folks, designers, developers, artists, organizers, data scientists, and political scientists. DDT will aim to create connective tissue between technology and decolonial theory in unprecedented ways. Social movements like decolonization do not lack sharp political analysis or people-power. They propose real solutions for systemic issues such as the prison industrial complex and environmental racism. Unfortunately, these solutions neither involve nor deeply consider technology. DDT will map social, cultural, and economic solutions onto technological capability and feasibility. It will provide technologists, activists, organizers, and political leaders with a framework for integrating technology into solutions for decolonization.

If the proposal above interests you please reach out to me.

I aim to develop Decolonial Design Thinking as an analytic framework that can serve as the starting point for analyzing the intersection of technology and decolonization. To quote Erik Ritskes of Intercontinental Cry: “Decolonization demands an Indigenous framework and a centering of Indigenous land… sovereignty, and… ways of thinking”. Imbricated in decolonization is abolition of the prison industrial complex, an end to capitalism-colonialism, and a need for restructuring land and modes of governance. I believe we need to develop technological tools that, to paraphrase Audre Lorde, do not belong to the master. To dismantle the master’s house, we must build our own tools. With the right framework, I believe we can see a radical shift in both the type of technology we build and who is part of the development process.

In the tech community today, our conception of human innovation is to “colonize Mars”. Such language demonstrates, if only to me, that the majority of us are quite far from being the ones who will build decolonial technology. However, with intention, political education, and effort, I do believe a different approach is possible. We must think divergently to colonial imaginations, values, and paradigms, and from the richness of decolonial thought build technology that dismantles a colonial matrix of power. What if innovation looked like decolonization?

We as designers, technologists, and developers who embrace scientific complexity should neither shy away from nor scoff at the geopolitical complexities that countless Indigenous scholars have laid out. We need a level of self-awareness and humility that compels us to converse with these scholars, who can help us identify the systems of power at play which influence and subsume the technology we design and build.

The question is not, how do we build ethical technology. Surely the question is, who is building the technology, where is it physically being built, and in what spirit? If imagination is rooted in experience, and technological innovation springs from imagination, from whose subjectivity are the technologies of today born?

Walter Mignolo, an Argentine and leading scholar on decolonial theory

What can decolonial technology do for all of us?

History is happening before our eyes. Poverty, environmental pollution, and race and gender-based violence is the magma beneath the prehistoric crust of colonialism. This hot and unsavory substance will continue to bubble, spill, and burn living things. While postcolonial theory (think Frantz Fanon), anti-colonialism (think Gandhi), and decolonization (think Angela Davis or Paulo Friere) have shaped mass movements in the real world, decolonial theory is still largely incubated in academia. I believe one way we usher theory into practice is through technology. Decolonial technology has the potential to provide alternatives for modes of governance, the market-economy, and our approaches to agriculture and medicine. Decolonial technology can guide us into a future that is truly sustainable, as compared to the highly untenable approach of colonialism-capitalism. Sustainability as it pertains to the natural world, non-living things, and human life.

In conclusion

Decolonial theory connects Indigenous knowledge here in the United States with Indigenous people everywhere: South Africa, Palestine, Kashmir, Tibet, and Australia, to name a few. The Decolonial Design Thinking framework would be applicable across borders and extend well beyond Silicon Valley. The complexity of ethical and responsible technology is inextricably linked to revolution and decolonization. This endeavor is unfinished business, but it is our business and it is my business.

Sources

  • Ritskes, Eric, 09/21/2012, What is decolonization and why does it matter, Intercontinental Cry
  • Chartrand, Vicki, 01/07/2019, Unsettled Times: Indigenous Incarceration and the Links between Colonialism and the Penitentiary in Canada, Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice
  • Virdee S. Racialized capitalism: An account of its contested origins and consolidation. The Sociological Review. 2019;67(1):3–27. Doi: 10.1177/0038026118820293

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Aishwarya Vardhana
Aishwarya Vardhana

Written by Aishwarya Vardhana

Artist, designer, and writer. Decoloniality, art, design, and technology. IG: @shweeze

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