1. Cascading oppression
in design
Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel
Laboratory of Design against Oppression (LADO), UTFPR
www.fredvanamstel.com

2. HUMAN BEING BEING MORE
BEING MORE
BEING
MORE
BEING
MORE
Frantz Fanon
Álvaro Vieira Pinto
Paulo Freire
Augusto Boal
The ontological
vocation of human
beings is to
become more, to
develop further.

3. LESS-THAN HUMAN
BEING
BEING LESS
BEING LESS
BEING
LESS
BEING
LESS
Oppression is a
social relation that
curtails this
ontological
vocation.

4. For example: Anger Transference (Richard Sargent, 1954).

5. Is this an unavoidable closed loop like natural predation?

6. No. Oppression is an open loop as it cannot entirely block
people from becoming more than oppressors and oppressed.
?

7. OPPRESSED
(less-than-human)
BEING LESS
OPPRESSOR
(human)
BEING MORE
Oppression is an unequal
exchange in the process of
becoming human.

8. USERS
(less-than-human)
BEING LESS
DESIGNERS
(human)
BEING MORE
In the process of becoming
human by design, designers get
a larger share of being.
Gonzatto, R.F. and Van Amstel, F.M.C. (2022), “User oppression in human-computer interaction: a dialectical-
existential perspective”, Aslib Journal of Information Management, Vol. 74 No. 5, pp. 758-781.

9. BEING LESS
BEING LESS
BEING MORE
OPPRESSED
BEING
MORE
OPPRESSED IN ONE
RELATION,
OPPRESSOR IN
ANOTHER.
However, oppression spreads through
cascading effects in different relations.
Designers are not always on the oppressor
side. They may also be oppressed.

10. Class relation
Gender relation
Age relation
Species relation?

11. Designers Users
Capitalists
Workers
Threshold of visibility
Threshold of visibility
Backstage
Frontstage
Abovestage
Threshold
of
visibility
Belowstage
The typical scope
of design research

12. Some Graphic Design examples of designers
oppressing racialized users.

13. A Service Design example of users oppressing providers.

14. A Speculative Design example of capitalists oppressing
designers (and other social groups).

15. Oppression is neither a tame
nor a wicked problem.
It is a fundamental
contradiction of modern societies.

16. When facing strong
contradictions in historical
development, design typically
seeks inspiration from art.

17. Theater of the Oppressed
• Design can learn a lot from
Theater of the Oppressed
• In this, oppression is
objectively embodied in
postures, gestures, and
rituals
• Theater can develop critical
body consciousness and
rehearse reactions to
oppression Augusto Boal
(1931-2009)

18. Image theater
• Created in Peru to decode
oppression among illiterate
people and stimulate them
to learn reading words to
overcome oppression
• The play consists of a static
body image that conveys an
oppressive situation, which
is thoroughly discussed by
the audience

19. Image theater of a surveillance chain produced by digital design
students at PUCPR (2016).
Surveillance machine
Surveillance designer
Surveillance user
Surveillance machine
Surveillance machines

20. Remote image theater
• Developed within the Design
& Oppression Network
pandemic reading group
• Images are designed with
3D dummy model
applications like Magic Poser
• Images are presented,
annotated, and modified on
online white boards like Miro

21. Grouping, annotating, and modifying body images help grasping
cascading streams of oppression.

22. Image theater's greatest power it to explore the space of
possibilities for reacting to oppression.

23. Cascading oppression can only be
restrained through major
structural changes in society.

24. Design can contribute to that,
provided that it comes from a
critical form of body consciousness.

25. Dank je wel!
Thank you!
Frederick van Amstel @fredvanamstel
Laboratory of Design against Oppression (LADO), UTFPR
www.fredvanamstel.com