Presentation for the panel discussion around cultural appropriation as part of A la Mexicana exhibition in London, UK. July 3rd, 2019.

1. Beyond inspiration and collaboration: Shifting who is the designer
Diana Albarrán González, PhD Candidate
Decolonising design with Indigenous artisans in Mexico for ethical consumption

2. Inspiration or Cultural Appropriation?
The adoption of elements from one
culture (artistic styles and representations,
land, artefacts, intellectual property,
folklore and religious symbol) by
members of another, becoming an
political act where there is a power
imbalance (Arya, 2017)
Instead of focusing on origin, it is more
useful on power relations “between
people who colonised the global South
and people who are economically and
politically dispossessed and
marginalised” (Haupt, 2017)

3. Improper cultural appropriation is a manifestation of the abuses of hegemonic cultural
groups on oppressed groups or populations (Aguilar Gil, 2018)
It is about power relationships and access
• Spaces
• Funds
• Markets
• Legal Protection
• Intellectual Property
• Economic Distribution
It’s about Power and Access

4. “Are designers the new
anthropologists or missionaries,
come to poke into village life,
understand it and make it
better—their modern way?”
(Nussbaum, 2010, para. 6)
Artisan-Designer collaborations: Who is “the designer”?

5. https://teaomaori.news/maori-artist-annoyed-awards-snubhttps://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/24-06-2019/the-buildings-are-uniquely-aotearoa-their-maori-designers-are-ignored/
Real collaborations vs. “Token” collaborations: NZ examples

6. Critiques about
“classifying traditional
craft as distinct from
modern design,
excluding the histories
and practices of design
innovation among Third
World peoples”
(Tunstall, 2013)
Art, design and craft hierarchies

7. The reality in Mexico
Colonisation of indigenous peoples’
knowledge (Smith, 1999)
Lack of reference to the cultural context
of the objects (Vencatachellum, 2005)
Ethicalwashing
Reduction of the artisan’s role to a
producer of the designer’s creations
(Margolin, 2007, Lamrad & Hanlon, 2014)
Challenging to distinguish
ethical/collaborative initiatives that seeks
the artisan’s benefit (Murray, 2010)

8. “Mainstream design discourse on global platforms has
always been dominated by a focus on Anglocentric/
Eurocentric practices and ways of knowing and dealing with
the world” Decolonising Design, Editorial Statement (Ansari et
al., 2016, para. 2).
“The epistemologies of the South concern the production and
validation of knowledges anchored in the experiences of
resistance of all those social groups
that have systematically suffered injustice, oppression, and
destruction caused by capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy”
(Santos, 2018)
Decolonising Textile Artisanal Design

9. Buen Vivir (Good Living/Wellbeing) has been
part of the re-visibilisation of Indigenous cultures,
worldvision and knowledges in
Cemanáhuac/Abya Yala.
It comes from Indigenous peoples as a movement
that not only fights for Indigenous peoples’ rights,
but for the emancipation of human beings.
(Benton, 2018)
Design for the Pluriverse (Escobar, 2018)
Design for the South / Design “Other” (Gutiérrez
Borrero, 2018)
“Other” designs

10. Sentirpensar (Fals Borda, 2009) or Sensing-Thinking , “Interculturalidad”

12. Lekil Kuxlejal, O´tan, “Innovación como Resistencia” (Innovation as Resistance )

13. “The communities taught me other
way of seeing, feeling and doing
design”
Quiroz Flores, 2019
Decolonise Design Education

14. diana.albarran@aut.ac.nzKolaval – Wokolaval – Gracias – Thank you