dear Naveen,
thank you so much for your post. I could not agree more.
this is what I wanted to say before. but you expressed it so much better.
I wish you would stay ...
all the best
Ursula
> Am 29.01.2017 um 08:47 schrieb Francois Nsenga <[log in to unmask]>:
>
> Naveen,
>
> If you are still lurking even though you wrote that you officially signed
> off, here is my personal 'feed-back' (literally) to your personal
> testimony, and I'll briefly 'throw' both opinions, yours and mine, into
> what I consider as 'objectivity'.
>
> I am an old African-born male, during decades trained in the
> Western-defined Design field (i.e. mentally 'colonized'), that I expanded,
> and till now trying to do, with the traditional ('decolonized') view of
> what is a 'material culture'.
>
> First, I concur, 'objectivity' as now promoted and practiced through
> 'scientific' endeavors, is a typical Western cultural worldview and a way
> that,starting in the 16th-17th century in Europe, was decided and socially
> 'imposed' for a purpose... From our actual professional and research Design
> point of view, we can ad infinitum 'debate' on this purpose, on ways it is
> promoted, and on its real and potential effects. In agreement with
> Mauricio, that is the kind of subjects I expect members in this List to
> debate on. I expect us to calmly, even sometimes acrimoniously (this is
> unavoidable, we are humans after all),to exchange beliefs, sentiments,
> agreements and disagreements on this issue. To me, that is what I mean by
> focus on 'objectivity', by thinkers from all over the world, each
> expressing her/his views, based on our similar and different stands. What a
> wealth in knowledge!!
>
>> From where I literally stand, both mentally and physically, in traditional
> African social settings, 'objectivity' would emerge following relatively
> considerable time in debating an issue. And contrary to what many
> foreigners superficially perceive, every person in a community was
> consulted, and 'heard', not only through ears... And it is the outcome of
> such a collective, wide and sometime very long consultation that was then
> enforced through various, daily used, designed mental and physical
> artifacts that made up the traditional African culture.
>
> Would it be, naturally, this kind of model of 'objectivity' that I am
> longing for to see applied, even on this worldwide List of non-African
> debaters??
>
> Francois
> Kigali
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 29, 2017 at 6:21 AM, Naveen Bagalkot <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello listers,
>> Its time for me to say goodbye from this list.
>> The space has become toxic, noxious, and the last straw has broken for me.
>> But before I hit the unsubscribe button, I will briefly outline why I am
>> leaving.
>> A pattern has emerged and is fixed. A pattern where any young/female/PoC
>> dissenting voice is disciplined by usually old/white/male voices.
>> Disciplined by terming the dissenting voices as rabble rousing, badly
>> behaved, (uncouth?).
>> Disciplined by demanding for 'objective' and 'rational' argumentation. What
>> is the problem in this you ask? Well, by now it is fairly established that
>> knowledge cannot be objective, even in the sciences. It cannot be removed
>> and isolated from the politics of its situated production. An individual
>> experiences cannot be undermined by generalized common-sense. By not
>> acknowledging and listening to the individual, situated experiences, and
>> demanding objectivity, you are imposing the hegemony of sciences, as if you
>> are stuck in the 60-80s.
>> Disciplined by talking down to only the dissenting voices, but not to
>> others, mostly because a) they are senior, b) they are your friends, or c)
>> you are scared of the implications.
>> Disciplined by demanding knowledge labor. Don't know what I mean by
>> knowledge labor? It is a typical trait by the oppressor. When an oppressed
>> person mentions an oppression, the oppressor demands knowledge (usually of
>> the objective rational kind) that will term / define their actions as being
>> oppressive. Another form of this phenomenon is also seen when the oppressor
>> demands to be educated in knowledge presented by the oppressed, without
>> taking the efforts to be educated. Case in point: When Teena raised the
>> issue of gender, the male profs / researchers demanded her to establish the
>> connection between gender and design research. So that the discussion can
>> be edible to them. If as researchers, researching the present and emerging
>> relations between objects and things and people you do not understand the
>> role of gender, then please go and do your homework before demanding from a
>> woman to take time off her day work to summarize to you in couple of
>> paragraphs how gender is related to design and design research. You know,
>> after all it is not just we males who have day work to do!
>> These and other modes of disciplining are acts of colonizing.
>> If you do not see that as that, then you are blinded. By your privileges
>> along the race, gender, geographical power axes. When the debate around
>> decolonizing design turned ugly sometime last year, I among others had
>> urged the members on this list to recognize our own privileges along these
>> axes, and be aware and sensitive (and empathize) by assuming that the
>> others on this list (particularly the dissenting ones) do not have these
>> privileges, and hence attune and attend to the difference in experience. By
>> not doing so, you the founders and / or gate-keepers of this list, are
>> colonizing.
>> And silencing. You wonder why the younger folks on this list do not discuss
>> and debate. Well, here is the answer: You colonize by your acts of
>> disciplining. The 'violent' outbursts you see here, and more on the social
>> media are nothing but the acts to reclaim a space for hearing. The violence
>> is not against you, but against your actions, which you seem not to
>> acknowledge.
>> If I have to continue on this list, I cannot remain silent, and I will have
>> to call-out each and every instance of colonizing, and that's just too much
>> of time and effort off my day work.
>>
>> So, goodbye and thanks for all the fish!
>>
>> Naveen
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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