Why should social designers care about power and privilege?
Using the world cafe methodology, our Fundamentals course explored the role of social designers’ relationship with power and privilege, and furthermore, how might we help issues of power and privilege take their place in the work of design in/with/for social outcomes. For me, design holds power. And who we are as designers — the identities and legacies we carry in relationship to power — are important. We need to start by having a real look at how designers hold power and privilege, and move into real ways of striving for equity in a field entangled in “good intentions” and harmful past.
As a woman of color, I think about the intersections of my identities on a daily basis and am constantly thinking about my body, my voice, and how my being either fits in and/or disrupts a space, conversation, or non-white reality. Not going to lie, this can be exhausting! I also recognize the immense privileges I carry as a brown-skinned, college educated, middle-class, able-bodied, straight cis-woman. The way I move through the world makes me consider all those things, and sometimes the world completely flattens me out to just one.
I come to the social design world rooted in community and have intentionally made space for anti-oppressive and anti-racist conversations in both my professional work and in my personal life. I think a lot about how I begin my journey as a designer while holding and practicing my values of equity, liberation, joy and healing for people of color.
For me the real question is:
How might social designers enter into conversations around power and privilege while acknowledging the realities of a world rooted in the values of white supremacy?
How might social designers design to uproot white supremacy and give power back to communities of color?
Designers have the power to tell stories, shape larger narratives, evoke emotions, invoke a future, try out solutions and create new realities. This is huge and for me it calls on a deep responsibility to be thoughtful, careful, and meaningful in how and why I do the work. If designers have power, that means they can find ways to share it, lift up others, and reimagine power beyond transactional exchanges. The opportunity here for me is about relationship-building and shifting structures to give power back to people and places that have been harmed, overlooked and/or undervalued.
Even with good and solid intentions, self-awareness and reflexitivity, designers (and yes, myself included) can still trip up and unconsciously create or recreate trauma and harm. Empathy is not enough to bridge historical and institutional wrongdoing. In working with communities facing oppression or social injustice, there must be an acknowledgement of the legacies of colonialism, imperialism and racism (along with other deep-seated -isms). Design and designers must face their own privilege and power and actively seek ways to interrupt habits of white supremacy and check assumptions. To me, to be a designer is to be in constant self-interrogation, listening, and conversation with both present and past histories.
I say all this while also believing that the communities we belong to and aspire to work alongside are abundant, vibrant and capable of their own solution-making. I am critical of the role of design because I also believe in its potential, processes, and tools to spark imagination and strive towards greater equity in an unequal world. This is where I want to position myself and I commit to asking the tough questions, getting curious and seeking liberation for all black and indigenous people of color.
