I am struggling to understand how to design these days. That means I'm also struggling to know how to teach design. Anthropocentrism is a problem. Human-centered design is a problem. These approaches are very effective at feeding the neoliberal, entrepreneurial, capitalist need for new gadgets and bigger profits, but they don't make us act with accountability to the natural world.
We can’t just keep going. That much is clear, if we’re being honest with ourselves. The way we work, as Engineers, is also far too intertwined with the systems and history of colonialism and White supremacy. It does far too much damage to the natural world. So we need to be open to change, and that change likely means starting over, not just fixing the bad parts of ourselves with a band-aid, or a pay-off, or an offset. It is change that might mean that we need to stop doing the thing that is our thing; or stop doing it the way that we have done it up until now. Our way of working, as Engineers currently work, isn’t fair, equitable, or sustainable. So let’s dismantle Engineering, but not think of that as a bad thing, as a punishment, or a tax, or a price to pay, but instead think of it as a way to rebuild our relationships in ways that are meaningful, honest, reciprocal, and accountable. Let’s think of dismantling Engineering as a way to heal ourselves and others from the damage that we’ve built our success and position of power on top of. A way to stop inflicting that damage moving forward.
We should recognize that the damage we’ve benefited from, and the advantage we’ve taken, has disadvantaged others. My institution, the University of Waterloo, needs to acknowledge where we come from, too. Not out of the mud, but out of a culture and position of power that are defined by neoliberalism, misogyny, homophobia, capitalism, ableism, and discrimination. These worldviews continue to enact violence on people who are seen as resources, instead of as equals, regardless of the headlines our marketing teams put up on our website. We, the University, enact violence against the natural world, and in doing so, we enact violence against ourselves.
