Anti-Racism (custom)
Why are we doing this?
Our program deals with major societal ills with which issues of racial equality heavily intersect. We want to ensure that our students are highly aware of this intersection, and learn to apply equitable multicultural understandings to their work to create social good.
Though our students come from all over the globe, our program is U.S. based, which impacts the perspectives presented in curricula. This means that students and faculty have not always been on the same page about issues of race, gender and sexuality, politics, economic understanding, etc. Approaches to anti-racism are constantly evolving, so updating our practices and values as an international organization can be particularly challenging. However, coming from different contexts is not an excuse for doing or tolerating harm (intentional or unintentional), and efforts must be made from all parties to self-educate and improve.
We as a department are taking action in a number of ways, and wanted to host some of the readings and resources we have looked to for guidance on our website for public access. The resources on this page are tools for self-educating on the intersection of equity and design, and are meant to accompany additional action and encourage critical thought.
If you would like to recommend any additional resources, please let us know and we will update our listings.
Land acknowledgement
Our practice of care and commitment to more equitable futures means we begin with a land acknowledgement. We honor the fact that SVA DSI is located on Lenapehoking land, and we pay respect to indigenous cultures past and present that have been violently displaced as a result of European settler colonialism over generations.
We similarly recognize that land acknowledgment by itself is a very small gesture, and only becomes meaningful when coupled with informed action and authentic relationships to our communities.
Recent Updates:
- Greater Good Studio has put together a public database of design organizations working for social good.
- Check out this visual history of mutual aid! Additional resources on the topic are also provided at the bottom of the article.
SVA Resources:
- SVA Asian American Student Union
- SVA’s Black Student Union
- SVA Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force
- SVA’s Latinx Student Group (La Bodega)
- Student Health and Counseling Services Instagram: @svastudenthealth
Articles:
- 10 New Rules of Design
- Beyond Empathy
- Black Lives Matter is Not a Design Challenge
- Design Thinking is a Rebrand for White Supremacy
- Democratizing Design Thinking
- Racism and Inequity are Products of Design
- Radical Innovation: Are Activists the Invisible Designers?
- Promoting an Emancipatory Research Paradigm in Design Education and Practice
- How to Think Differently About Doing Good as a Creative Person
- What a Decolonization of Design Involves: Two Programmes for Emancipation
- What Does It Mean to Decolonize Design?
- If We Want Design to be a Tool for Liberation, We’ll Need More Than Good Intentions
- What is at Stake with Decolonizing Design? A Roundtable
- How to Begin Designing for Diversity
- Decolonizing Means Many Things to Many People
- Shifting the Powerplay in Co-design
- Redesigning Justice: Building a Community Within the Design Field Itself
- Identifying Racialized Design to Cultivate a Culture of Awareness in Design
Books:
- Transformative Research and Evaluation by Donna M. Mertens
- Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
- Indigenous Research Methodologies by Bagele Chilisa
- Value Sensitive Design: Shaping Technology with Moral Imagination by Batya Friedman and David G. Hendry
- Design Justice, Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need by Sasha Costanza-Chock
- Research is Ceremony – Indigenous Research Methods by Shawn Wilson
- Designs for the Pluriverse Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds by Arturo Escobar
- Stop Talking – Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning and Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education by Ilarion (Larry) Merculieff and Libby Roderick (PDF)
- Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation by Ezio Manzini
- Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin
- Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne
- White Fatigue: Rethinking Resistance for Social Justice by Joseph E. Flynn Jr
- Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism by Safiya Umoja Noble
- Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Davis
- Be Antiracist: A Journal for Awareness, Reflection, and Action by Ibram X. Kendi
Directories:
- BIPOC Directors Collective
- Black Owned Bookstores
- Black Owned Business Directory
- Illustrator Hub
- Latinx Design Directory
- The Nile List
- The Radical Database
Health:
Organizations We’re Following:
- Allied Media Conference
- Anti-Racism Daily Newsletter
- BIPOC Design History
- Black Artists + Designers Guild
- Creative Reaction Lab
- Design Justice Network
- National Multicultural Alliance
- The Black Artist Fund
- The Homegirl Box (Designed in part by ‘22 student Mickey Ferrara)
- The New Negress Film Society
- Where are the Black Designers?
- Words of Mouth
Other Media:
- A Designer’s Critical Alphabet
- Asian Am Feminist Collective (Instagram Page)
- Audio Protest (Instagram Page)
- Black Art Library (Instagram Page)
- Black Lives Matter (Instagram Page)
- Blackspace Manifesto
- Ethical Tools for Designers
- Equity-Centered Community Design by Creative Reaction Lab (Field Guide)
- Equity Meets Design (Free Course)
- No White Saviors (Instagram Page)
- Reading Group: Imagining De-Gentrified Futures (Multimedia)
- Syllabus: 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge
- Lesley-Ann Noel’s “Designer’s Critical Alphabet” deck is available as a free document.
Podcasts:
- The Black History Buff Podcast
- Friends Like Us
- Groundings
- Intersectionality Matters!
- Language Keepers
- New Books in Latin American Studies
- New Books in African Studies
- New Books in Asian American Studies
- New Books in Caribbean Studies
- New Books in Central Asian Studies
- New Books in East Asian Studies
- New Books in Islamic Studies
- New Books in South Asian Studies
- New Books in Native American Studies
- Revision Path
- The Red Nation Podcast
Resources Compilations:
- AIGA’s Growing List of Resources for the Movement for Black Lives
- An Incomplete List of Resources for the Equity-Centered Designer
- Anti-Racism Resource Guide by Tasha K.
- Black History Month Public Library
- Dear White People (Reading List)
- Decolonizing Design
- Decolonizing Documentary & Journalism
- Equity Design Resources
- The Inclusion & Diversity Compendium for Designers
- Restorative Design Conference Resources
Video:
- An Essential Watchlist of Groundbreaking Black Documentaries
- Segregated by Design
- Theory, Design and the Practice of Racial Justice & Liberation (AIGA Interview with DSI’s Sloan Leo & Lee-Sean Huang).
- Whose Design: Sharing Counter Perspectives to Dominant Design Gazes
- Black Industrial Designers Talk About Race and Design (9 Parts)
- Video Essays That Address Race, Inequality, and the Movement for Black Lives