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Juris, Thank you for your message. I feel that in the US, the mandate is to hire people who can make "things." This is a byproduct of the art based commercial art system developed here. With territorial issues and power struggles, most academic units will never hire a professor who can not teach the practical aspects of design. This is most unfortunate. I would propose that it is easier, and less intrusive, to send design student to study the principles of other disciplines with someone who is better equipped to handle those concepts; someone who is an expert in that discipline, not in design. Those people, such as yourself, should have some knowledge of the design process and historical precedent, but should be an expert in a field other than design. The academic promotion and tenure system would likely reject a researcher in an MFA setting. Critical thinking and problem solving skills must come from the bottom up. As a community, we must all be cognizant that until the masses realize the importance of these skills, nothing will change. The evolution must happen slowly... The powers that be will never loose face by admitting their practices are less than utopian. Jason -- Jason W. Howell, AIGA Assistant Professor, Communication Design School of Art and Design Allyn Building - Mailcode 4301 Southern Illinois University Carbondale 1100 South Normal Ave. Carbondale IL 62901 Design Barracks 112A C: 618 303-1825 O: 618 453-7598 F: 618 453-7710 http://mypage.siu.edu/jwhowell/ http://www.artanddesign.siu.edu > From: Juris Milestone <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 18:02:51 +0000 > To: "Jason W. Howell" <[log in to unmask]> > Cc: Juris Milestone <[log in to unmask]> > Subject: Re: An important research challenge > > As a newly minted Ph.D. in anthropology (my ethnographic work was among > professors of > architecture, landscape architecture, and sculpture - all engaging in > university-community > partnerships doing urban design), I'd like to see more openness to hiring > non-designers onto > design faculties, or some further compromise thereof. Perhaps my experience > in the US is unique, > but I've found that almost all the job descriptions I know I could fulfill, > end up requiring a degree > in design, which I do not have. > > I studied designers, and wrote about design, but my contribution is primarily > critical analysis of > neoliberal consumer society, societies of control, and taste and class (by > comparison, I am not a > "design anthropologist", or an anthropologist who works in the professional, > commercial world of > design). In seeking to offer critical analyses of "design" as a > socio-historical phenomenon, and > trying to understand how the ideas of design effect social order, which is > always embedded in and > constituting struggles over power (meaning, value, truth, control, profit), > and in doing this by > placing design within its cultural contexts, as well as symbolic and political > economies, the > "sacred" is often made to seem profane, and many designers (in my limited > experience) become > uncomfortable with this. > > I'd say that one way to get design students to think critically, is to invite > critical thinkers from > other disciplines (preferably those that specialize in critical analysis of > human behavior, > institutions, and practice), by opening up faculties and curricula to those > with an interest in > applying their non-design tools to the world of design. (Again, it appears > that this has been more > successful in the UK, but it is difficult for a young scholar like me to > 'crack the codes' from across > the pond!) > > Juris Milestone > Temple University > Philadelphia, PA USA > [log in to unmask] > ------ End of Forwarded Message