Notes from Decolonising service design in government: an open discussion
Earlier this month, we (Eloise Smith-Forster, Sonia Turcotte and Clara Greo) ran an open discussion on Decolonising service design in government. It was a beautiful session to be a part of. We dove deep and swam wide, and there was a wonderful range of people in the discussion.
This is a summary of some of the points that resonated to us from the session. We’ve included quotes from the chat with consent from the writers.
We talked about our different identities, communities and positionalities. We shared different ways that coloniality shows up in our professional and personal lives, in our stories and our workplaces. We welcomed indigenous voices in the space.
We talked about the discomfort and fear people often feel when thinking about decolonisation. We dove into different perspectives on guilt, and complicity in colonisation. We talked about white guilt and the idea that guilt can be very individualised.
We talked about being collectively complicit because of our entanglement in bigger systems. We reflected on how people have different levels of agency, power, willingness etc. to affect their complicity.
We talked about releasing these emotions and allowing space to experience grief.
We talked about the importance of sitting with discomfort and being accountable, individually and collectively.
We talked about love as a transformative force
“I believe love can play a role in participatory processes, not only as a source of energy or collaboration, but also as a way to support self-flourishing and relational depth. Decolonial work often requires dissent, personal critique, guilt etc.. which brings up vulnerability, pain, and even trauma. In that context, love, as situated, contextual, and different for each person or community, could be essential to hold space for healing and connection.”
Some people recommended All About Love by bell hooks in this discussion
We heard about some examples of working with other types of knowledge, other types of design. Of creating new tools outside of existing colonial frameworks. Of seeing and honouring indigenous ways of knowing and doing.
We talked about the coloniality of how we experience and use time. We heard an example of a non-linear blueprint, using a tree and roots as the foundation.
We talked about the need for reparations form harm caused by colonialism
“I would love to see a case made where we can connect discrimination with "continued colonising practices" and then use the Equality Act to strengthen the case of decolonising practice being taken more seriously.” - Dr. Zuleima Morgado Ramirez
We talked about extractive design and research practices and the wish (and difficulty) of employing more participatory, trauma informed practices which honour other ways of working. We talked about how government systems (and beyond) are designed to make different ways of working hard.
“we are trying to do liberatory work within oppressive structures, governments, corporates etc... and have to navigate that friction” - Ghaith Nassar
We talked about pluriversality.
We talked about how working in government is slow. Change is a relay race, not a sprint.
We talked about the importance of taking small steps, little ripples of change. This was a really important idea given the enormity, power and pervasiveness of colonialism in the institutions of government.
“I advocate for small change start from ourselves acting. Sometimes it makes people feel uncomfortable even just talk about it. What might it be possible to generate some progressive small steps?” - Chiachi Ming
Some of the small steps we talked about included:
Saying no to projects, work, employers (recognising that it is a privilege to be able to do this). Several participants shared experiences of turning down work
Documenting colonialism and its harms when we see it, as a form of resistance, especially when we are disempowered in our choice of what and how to do work (Dr. Zuleima Morgado Ramirez). Write the words down, put them in presentations, put them on slides, put them in risk registers.
“one colonialist practice is ‘not talking about things’ ‘pretending all is alright to keep peace and comfort for those in power’” - Dr. Zuleima Morgado Ramirez
Include the earth, the land, the waterways, the planet as stakeholders
Don’t separate humanity from planet in a blueprint
Say the words. Say colonialism in the workplace at least once a week. Make it part of the conversation.
Applying decolonial critical theory to every project, every piece of work.
“Applying decolonial critical theory to every project - I think it is often seen as specialist projects but if it is made the norm for all project approaches it makes this kind of thinking and design approach the norm”
Joining a union
Join activist groups and resistance spaces
Include dedicated time for design justice questions in every project
“Used them with a group of community members and government staff together last week and it generates such a rich reflection that shifted the way we thought about what we'd designed together, to really question power, extraction, dehumanisation. Its not enough I know. But a commitment to doing it is at least there.”
- Resist and and call out anthropocentrism and human supremacy in every space in my life
We talked about the importance of changing design education so that new designers are ready to be a part of this change.
“I feel design/service design education is deeply depoliticized despite doing actually political work, being often rooted in neoliberal/colonial perspectives”
We talked about cultivating community and being ready for the revolution when it comes.
We talked about the difficulty of reading a very engaged chat and listening to a discussion at the same time.
We wished for more spaces to continue these discussions. There was a lot of interest in building community.
We shared our details to stay in touch with each other.
We found solidarity and friendship.
Links shared in the discussion
A service focused on decolonising knowledge Sakshi Mathurwhich resulted in a framework that can be used as an analytical tool within service design amongst other applications.
The book “Hospicing Modernity: Facing Humanity’s Wrongs and the Implications for Social Activism”
Find collective support, education and solidarity in unions
A community engagement guide local authorities
A guide to community engagement. The work of Victor Udoewa on Radical participatory design has been inspirational for parts of the guide
The work of Arturo Escobar, especially Designs for the Pluriverse on pluriversality
Further resources from the facilitators
This is our list of further resources on decolonising service design
I am in the process of building a community but it’s early stage and not open yet. Please feel free to connect with me on Linkedin and can update you if it’s of interest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eloise-smith-foster/
Financial transparency
All 50 tickets to this event were claimed
21 participants attended the event
The ticket revenue was £191.18, less £7.07 in stripe fees
Our donation to UNRWA was £66.
The 3 facilitators earnt £49.10 net each
Unfortunately it’s unlikely that we will be able to run this session again as we were not able to cover the cost of our time
Photo Nightime Wanderers by Lenny K Photography on flickr and shared under CC BY 2.0 Attribution 2.0 Generic