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Creative Democracy: an Anthropology of and by Means of Design Title Creative Democracy: an Anthropology of and by means of Design Type The sis URL https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/15979/ Dat e 2 0 2 0 Citation Pierri, Paola (2020) Creative Democracy: an Anthropology of and by means of Design. PhD thesis, University of the Arts London. Cr e a to rs Pierri, Paola Usage Guidelines Please refer to usage guidelines at http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected] . License: Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Unless otherwise stated, copyright owned by the author Creative Democracy: an Anthropology of and by means of Design Paola Pierri University of the Arts London London College of Communication A Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of the Arts London February 2020 Supervisory Team: Director of Study: Dr. Alison Prendiville, London College of Communication Supervisor: Dr. Adam Drazin, University College London Paola Pierri Doctoral Thesis Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 5 List of Annexes ....................................................................................................................................... 6 List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... 7 List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................... 7 Introduction: Design and Democracy ............................................................................................ 8 Chapter 1 - Creative Democracy in Cornelius Castoriadis ................................................... 23 1.1) The Radical Imagination: How can Imagination Translate into Action ..................... 26 1.2) The project of the autonomous subject.................................................................................... 40 1.3) Concluding Remarks......................................................................................................................... 47 Chapter 2 - An anthropology ‘of’ and ‘by means’ of design................................................... 50 2.1) Research Questions and Methodological Approach ........................................................... 52 2.2) Doing Research as a ‘Convocation’ ............................................................................................. 63 2.3) The Structure of the Writing ......................................................................................................... 76 Chapter 3 – Ethnographic notes and field-work ...................................................................... 84 3.1) Design comes in different flavours ............................................................................................ 88 3.2) The Asset Based Approach: ‘Use what you have to secure what you have not’ ..... 92 3.3) Field-work nr1: Working with Resilient Communities ..................................................... 98 3.4) Field-work nr2: Traditions and Futures-Making ...............................................................122 3.5) Concluding remarks........................................................................................................................144 Chapter 4 - An Anthropology of Creativity in Design .......................................................... 148 4.1) Towards a phenomenology of imagination in design ......................................................150 4.2) “Why people cannot take a horse and the moon and make a new service” ...........155 4.3) The surge of the ‘creative class’ .................................................................................................164 4.4) The new, the old and the habitual: an anthropological outlook of design ..............171 Chapter 5 – The Creative Performance Anxiety.................................................................... 178 5.1) “The invention of creativity” .......................................................................................................179 5.2) Neither Backwards nor Romantic ............................................................................................191 5.3) The Dis-illusion of Creativity without the Subject ............................................................197 5.4) Concluding Remarks: towards Theory Formation ............................................................211 Chapter 6 – My Contribution to Knowledge: Starting the ‘creative class’ struggle.. 216 6.1) From Individual to Political Creativity ...................................................................................217 6.2) Design for the Radical Imagination ..........................................................................................223 6.3) Against Heteronomous Design ..................................................................................................233 Chapter 7 - Done and to be done: an attempt to conclude ................................................. 242 7.1) Design and Democracy ..................................................................................................................243 7.2) Points of novelty...............................................................................................................................246 7.3) Done and to be done .......................................................................................................................251 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 256 2 Paola Pierri Doctoral Thesis To Ferdinando 3 Paola Pierri Doctoral Thesis Abstract This is a theory-based research which I intend to be a contribution to all practice of design that are, in one way or another, concerned with the question of democracy. Building on the critical accounts raised by scholars within the field of design for ‘making publics’ I propose, in this work, a departure from the thinking of John Dewey and an exploration into another strand of thought, that also investigates the link between democracy and social creativity, and which is based on the work of Cornelius Castoriadis. Dewey and Castoriadis moved from very similar concerns but the two thinkers also differed on key points, and the main difference between their two strands of thought could be found in the fact that whilst Dewey attempted to ‘socialise the political’, Castoriadis aim was rather to ‘politicise the social’. I open this monograph articulating the reasons for design practitioners and scholars to look into the work of Cornelius Castoriadis and I continue in my writing to describe what I have learnt by exploring how and if design has a role to play - through its repertoire of creative tactics – in order to advance creative democracy as an everyday practice. I will describe the issues I encountered in my two field- works within the area of design for mental health and I will articulate what I discovered about the limitations of current conceptions of creativity, as elaborated and practiced within neo-liberal modes of design practices. Through this work I will advance as my main contribution to knowledge a proposal for a renovated mode of design, which I have called ‘Design for the Radical Imagination’ and which has - as its main ambition - the creation and the nurturing of a collective subject that can interpret and change the world politically. 4 Paola Pierri Doctoral Thesis Acknowledgements This research has been possible thanks to the financial support of the London Doctoral Design Centre (LDoC), a programme funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council to promote and support world-class design research. I am grateful to the LDoC Programme not only for their financial support, but for allowing me to connect with other incredible PhD Researchers and for supporting me in presenting my work externally to various Conferences and Events. I am very grateful, in fact, to all those who gave me feedback and commented on my work along the way. I want to express my gratitude to both my supervisors, Alison Prendiville and Adam Drazin, as it is through their advice, their suggestions and also critiques and provocations that I have managed to get through the end of this work, which represents for me, for its length and depth, not simply a monograph but an important life endeavour. They pushed me where I did not want to go, they directed me towards fruitful thinking and above all allowed me to wander and explore the field in my own way and my own time. I especially want to thank my partner in life – to whom I dedicate this monograph - for his companionship, his intellectual support, his fierce critiques and caring encouragement. Thanks from my heart. Finally, I am in huge debt to the organisation where I carried out my field-work, all the residents, the staff, the community workers without whom this work would have not happened. I have learnt from them more than they have from me. Thanks. 5 Paola Pierri Doctoral Thesis List of Annexes Annex 1: Table of my design research activities and
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