Keynote Lecture
Design Anthropology: Experiments in Cold War Industrial Design
Alison J. Clarke
Design History Conference
UCA, United Kingdom
7 September 2024
This keynote lecture argues that the origins of the design anthropology phenomena lie closer to early US decolonising & development policies than contemporary Silicon Valley innovation and grassroots community co-design initiatives. Design & social science emerged as crucial partners in negotiating Cold War geo-political interventions and in so-doing generated an enduring borderless disciplinary alliance that persists today.