Embracing transgression
in Design
how can design tackle gender oppression?
Overview
Exploratory research project on the relationship between Design and transgression.
A specific focus of the project is the exploration of how design processes and artifacts can support the transgression of socially defined gender norms and to address gender oppression.
keywords: gender, design, transgression, normativity, games
2021 - ongoing
Carleton University
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Transgression can be understood as a process of challenging and going beyond the limits of social convention established by who is in power. It has inspired and characterized several art movements that acted against the status quo and revolutionized aesthetic perception and quality norms. Considering this and the creative potential inherent to this process, the concept of transgression might be of great relevance when rethinking Design process from a gender aware and inclusive perspective.
This research project, exploratory in nature, aims to understand how Design can support processes of transgression of socially defined gender norms and, therefore, address gender oppression.
It also reflects on the relevance of embracing transgression in design processes towards increasing the creative potential of design practice and enabling plural possibilities of being.
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There are 3 main areas of research activities:
Theoretical exploration of the potential relationship between the concept of design, the nature of the design process and the concept of transgression.
Exploration of the potential of games (games design) to support the transgression of social accepted gender norms.
Case study research for identifying the features of transgressive artifacts.
Activities such as mapping reviews, systematic literature review and case study research have been conducted.
Playing of “The Sims 3” and 4 to explore how it enables (or not) to embrace and express different preferences for gender and sexual orientation.
A series of public lectures were presented in a Ph.D. course at Politecnico di Milano on the topic: Fighting Discriminations: Power, Unbalance, Intersectional Dominant-Logic in New Technologies Evolution. Chiara presented on ‘Tackling oppression by embracing transgression’.
This project is supported in part by funding from