Epistemological counter-narratives in the field of design: reflections from the colonialcountercolonial

reflexões do ciclo de estudos colonialcontracolonial

Abstract

The paper reports and discusses the theoretical findings of the colonial-countercolonial cycle of studies, organized by Narratives in innovation, design and anthropology research group - NIDA at the Federal University of Maranhão. Based on a narrative literature review, the studies coordinators present the theoretical context of the cooptation of categories that are dear to the field of contemporary design, such as identity, decolonial/decoloniality, democracy, sustainability, and Latin America. From the perspective of coloniality, the debate revolves around the forms of domination and power undertaken by cognitive capitalism, which apprehends forms of life, through creativity, and transforms them into the contemporary charcoal of capitalism. Design, as a field that enacts the construction and imagination of worlds, needs to be stressed to reinvent itself as a field that contributes to the regeneration of worlds. From the elaboration of a study program in 13 sessions, we present, as results, the debates on the limits of the aforementioned concepts, in dialogue with the authors included in the program, in order to expand the impacts of this micropolitical action.