Alison J. Clarke’i avatud loeng “Design Anthropology: Its History and Its Discontents”

Name: Alison J. Clarke’i avatud loeng “Design Anthropology: Its History and Its Discontents”
Start: 2026-01-13T16:00:00+02:00
Location: Põhja pst 7, 10412 Tallinn, Estonia

Schedule

Tue, 13 Jan, 2026 at 04:00 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Põhja pst 7, 10412 Tallinn, Estonia | Tallinn, HA

13. jaanuaril kell 16.00 toimub EKA-s ruumis A101 Alison J. Clarke’i avalik loeng “Design Anthropology: Its History and Its Discontents”. Loeng on osa disainiteaduskonna avalike loengute sarjast “Public Lectures in Design: Adjusting Perspectives”, mida kureerivad Stella Runnel ja Taavi Hallimäe.

Loeng käsitleb disainiantropoloogia kujunemist – valdkonda, mis ühendab sotsiaalteadusi ja disainipraktikat ning mis on viimase kahe aastakümne jooksul kiiresti populaarsust kogunud. Clarke väidab, et selle nähtuse tekkepõhjusi tuleb otsida USA ekspansionismist ja külma sõja aegsest geopoliitikast, kus seda rakendati poliitilise mõjutusvahendina äsja dekoloniseeritud riikides. Selline lähenemine võimaldab kriitiliselt käsitleda kaasaegset praktikat, millest on saanud nähtamatu jõud, mis mõjutab globaalset elukorraldust mitmel tasandil alates tervishoiu korraldamisest kuni valitsemise ja andmete kasutamiseni.

Avatud loengutest oodatakse osa võtma tudengeid, õppejõudusid, aga ka kõiki teisi disainihuvilisi!

Alison J. Clarke on Viini Rakenduskunsti Ülikooli professor ja Papaneki Fondi direktor. Disainiajaloolase ja sotsiaalantropoloogina tegeleb Clarke’i uurimistöö nende distsipliinide ristumiskohtadega, eriti nende ühise fookusega materiaalse kultuuri ja sotsiaalsete suhete poliitikale. Tema kõige hiljutisem monograafia “Victor Papanek: Designer for the Real World” (MIT Press, 2021) uurib sotsiaalse disaini vastuolulist ajalugu, mis on väitnud end edendavat sotsiaalset õiglust inimkesksete lähenemiste kaudu. Tema praegune raamat ja uurimisprojekt “Design Anthropology: Decolonizing and Recolonizing the Material World” (MIT Press) käsitleb disainipraktika ja antropoloogia ajalooliselt hägusaid piire ning nende sulandumise sotsiaalseid tagajärgi tänapäevases ettevõtlussektoris. Clarke’i uurimistööd on muu hulgas toetanud Graham Foundation, Smithsonian Institution, Austria Teadusfond ja Arts and Humanities Research Council.

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Alison J. Clarke’s Public Lecture “Design Anthropology: Its History and Its Discontents”

On January 13 at 16:00 in room A101, Alison J. Clarke will give a public lecture titled “Design Anthropology: Its History and Its Discontents”. The lecture is part of the Faculty of Design’s public lecture series “Public Lectures in Design: Adjusting Perspectives,” curated by Stella Runnel and Taavi Hallimäe.
This talk explores the emergence of design anthropology as an approach that has gained popularity over the last two decades by melding social science and design practice. Clarke will argue the need to understand the phenomenon’s origins in the Cold War geopolitics of US expansionism, whereby it was applied as a political force to decolonized nations, in order to cast a critical eye over a contemporary practice that has come to operate as the invisible hand behind multiple facets of global life from health care provision, through to governance and data harnessing.
The public lectures are open to students, faculty, as well as anyone else interested in design!

Alison J. Clarke is a professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the director of Papanek Foundation. As a design historian and social anthropologist, Clarke’s research deals with the intersection of these disciplines, specifically in terms of their shared focus on the politics of material culture and social relations. Her most recent monograph Victor Papanek: Designer for the Real World (MIT Press, 2021) explores the controversial origins of social design, casting a critical perspective on the origins of a movement that has claimed to promote social justice through people-centred approaches. Her present book and research project Design Anthropology: Decolonizing and Recolonizing the Material World (MIT Press) explores the blurred historical boundaries between design practice and anthropology, and the social consequences of the uptake of this melding in the contemporary corporate sector. Clarke’s research has been supported by the Graham Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the Austrian Science Fund and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, among others.