Presented at the 2nd. International Biennale of Indigenous Creativity. Na te kore, from the void. Christchurch March 2-5th, 2018 https://www.natekore2018.com/people-practice#kauhau-kai-mahi-speakers

1. Decolonising design with indigenous artisans in
Mexico for ethical consumption.
Diana Albarrán González

2. Content
- Crafts and Artisanal Design field.
- Research overview.
- Context.
- Field research.

3. Crafts for
development
Improve life and
working conditions
of communities.
Protect crafts
traditions.
Stimulate the
creation of original
pieces.

4. Diseño Artesanal

5. Designer-artisan collaboration
“Are designers the new anthropologists or
missionaries, come to poke into village life,
understand it and make it better—their
modern way?” (Bruce Nussbaum, 2010,
para. 6)
http://www.disup.com/proyecto-palma-moises-hernandez-mexico/

6. The reality
Colonisation of indigenous peoples’
knowledge.
Lack of reference to the cultural context
of the objects.
Ethicalwashing
Reduction of the artisan’s role to a
producer of the designer’s creations
(Margolin, 2007).
Challenging to distinguish
ethical/collaborative initiatives that
seeks the artisan’s benefit (Murray,
2010).

7. elcaminodelosaltos.blogspot.co.nz/
Movimiento Nacional de Tejedoras Ruchajixik ri qana’ojbäl
From Social Design to
Decolonising Design

8. Decoloniality,
towards
decolonisation
“Decoloniality is the dismantling of
relationships of power and conceptions
of knowledge that foment the
reproduction of racial, gender, and
geo-political hierarchies that came into
being or found new and more powerful
forms of expression in the
modern/colonial world.” (Maldonado-
Torres, 2006, p. 117).
http://azls.blogspot.co.nz/2011/10/12-octobre-519-ans-dameriques-abya-yala.html

9. Decolonising Design
“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).
https://www.solidsmack.com/resources/read-this-famous-product-designers-share-their-favorite-reads/https://theredlist.com/wiki-2-18-393-1395-view-eclecticism-profile-starck-philippe-3.html

11. Gaps in the existing knowledge
Western centric research on design and crafts applied in the Mexican context.
Co-design and participatory design methods for social innovation, but not
specific to work with indigenous artisans.
Decolonisation recognise the importance of the pluriverse and the respective
connection of “the other worlds” with their contexts, epistemology and
territories (Mignolo, 2009; Santos, 2015; Smith, 1999).
Context-based decolonising approaches.

14. Sanders & Stappers, 2013

15. Mayan lands of Chiapas
http://www.proceso.com.mx/361396/hemos-cometido-errores-errores-grandisimos-2http://www.adriftskateshop.com/chiapas-map.html
“The Zapatismo brought new forms to respond socially, they wanted to break the
tradition with the classic. The Zapatistas said we are freer and we will not continue
as before, they changed the bloused of Larrainzar from red to purple and it has
kept changing…” Pedro Meza (Perez Canovas, 2014, p. 77).

16. https://escapadas.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/andador-real-de-guadalupe.html
http://www.turismochiapas.gob.mx/sectur/mercado-artesanal-en-la-plaza-de-santo-domingo https://flic.kr/p/4oGqxg
https://flic.kr/p/dUtm5o

19. Morris Jr., Walter E. (2014). A Textile Guide to the Highlands of Chiapas

20. ChamuchicMalacate Taller Experimental Impacto
“If a designer goes to
a community and gives
work to do, she is
generating occupation,
but is not necessarily
generating richness”.
Marta Turok.
“The key to establish fair
work relations with artisans
is to understand that before
design, commerce, creativity
and collaboration, there are
people, their culture, history
and dynamics”. Dr. Ma. del
Carmen Castilo

22. Vitz
Chij
Chuch
Ká
Uk’um
Chon
Met
Amuch
Chómtík
Ixim
Túl
Manzaná
Zorro
Pino

24. “The designs of
the embroidery
and weaves
contained in
this piece
correspond to
the rights of
the indigenous
peoples and
communities of
the Highlands
of Chiapas.”

26. Sentirpensar [Feelthink] (Fals-Borda)

28. http://newsweekespanol.com/2018/01/disenos-tzotziles-para-mexico-y-el-mundo/

34. Decolonising the designer…
“They showed us an archetype of
designer that I definitely, as a human
being, Latin American, woman, with a
special skin colour, with a special hair, I
could not fulfil...I did not fit the archetype
of the European or North American
designer” (Velez, 2016, 5:34)
Decolonising mestizos, “ch’ixi” (Rivera
Cusicanqui, 2017)

36. Jolobil and identity …kolabal

37. References
Akama, Y. (2017). Kokoro of Design: Embracing Heterogeneity in Design Research. Design and Culture, 9(1), 79–
85.
Ansari, A., Abdulla, D., Canli, E., Keshavarz, M., Kiem, M., Oliveira, P., … Schultz, T. (2016). A Statement on the
Design Research Society Conference 2016. Retrieved from
http://www.decolonisingdesign.com/statements/2016/editorial/
Escobar, A. (2016). Autonomía y diseño. La realización de lo cumunal.
Fry, T. (2017). Design for/by “The Global South.” Design Philosophy Papers, 15(1), 3–37.
https://doi.org/10.1080/14487136.2017.1303242
Gutiérrez Borrero, A. (2015). Resurgimientos: sures como diseños y diseños otros. Nómadas, (43), 113-129.
Irwin, T., Kossoff, G., & Tonkinwise, C. (2015). Transition Design Provocation. Design Philosophy Papers, 13(1), 3–
11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14487136.2015.1085688
Kalantidou, E., & Fry, T. (Eds.). (2014). Design in the Borderlands. Routledge.
Maldonado-Torres, N. (2006). Cesaire’s gift and the decolonial turn. Radical Philosophy Review, 9(2), 111–138.
Margolin, V. (2007). Design for development: towards a history. Design Studies, 28(2), 111–115.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2006.11.008
Mignolo, W. (2009). Epistemic Disobedience, Independent Thought and Decolonial Freedom. Theory, Culture &
Society, 26, 159–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276409349275
Murray, K. (2010). Outsourcing the hand: An analysis of craft-design collaborations across the global divide. craft+
design enquiry (Vol. 2). Retrieved from http://www.craftaustralia.org.au/cde/index.php/cde/article/view/14

38. References
Nussbaum, B. (2010). Is Humanitarian Design the New Imperialism? Retrieved July 17, 2017, from
https://www.fastcodesign.com/1661859/is-humanitarian-design-the-new-imperialism
Perez Canovas, K. (2014). La transformación de la artesanía textil a través de su mercantilización entre diseñadores
y tejedoras en los Altos de Chiapas (master’s thesis). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, San Cristóbal de
las Casas, Chiapas, México.
Rivera Cusicanqui, S. (2017, July 1). Seguir mirando a Europa es apostar por un suicidio colectivo.
Iberoamerica Social. Retrieved from http://iberoamericasocial.com/seguir-mirando-europa-apostar-
suicidio-colectivo/
Sanders, E. B. N., & Stappers, P. J. (2012). Convivial design toolbox: Generative research for the front end of
design. BIS.
Santos, B. de S. (2015). Epistemologies of the South: Justice against epistemicide. Routledge.
Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Zed books.
Tunstall, E. (2013). Decolonizing design innovation: Design anthropology, critical anthropology, and indigenous
knowledge. Design Anthropology: Theory and Practice, 232–250.
Tunstall, E. (2016). Respectful Design Video. Retrieved August 17, 2017, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sESVWI5aAHA
Velez, S. M. (2016). Artesanía y Diseño: diseño horizontal y de doble vía. Inexmoda. Medellín. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xhVH7gDAqw&spfreload=1