Decolonizing Design; A Cultural Justice Guidebook by Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall is the most unique and one of the most important books I have ever read! I will be purchasing a hard copy for my own personal book shelf! ! I felt so lucky to get a copy for myself! I have shared on my goodreads, bookstagram, and booktok!

Design justice was a topic I had never really considered, and this book has been transformational in shaping my thoughts on it. Dr Tunstall is eminently positioned to speak on the subject, as a scholar, educator and design professional who has worked in three countries, and who is also from a minoritised background.

Some important things I learnt were:

The importance of decolonisation to the field of design (why decolonise at all?)
How to centre Indigenous people in decolonial discourse (and this is true no matter where in the world one is);
The European Modernist myth of technology bringing progress, or “better living through technology,” which, historically, has only been true for a very specific subset of people—this, in Chapter Two, was truly fascinating to me, and a compelling argument;
Some excellent thoughts on the positionality of African Americans with respect to Indigenous people in the US and Canada, with an introduction to the concept of the native-settler-slave triad.
The final chapters detail practically how to decolonise design teaching programmes, and deal with the financial aspects. Although none of this is applicable for me, the section on reparations is excellent, and makes a good starting point for thinking about reparations in general.

This is a very accessible and highly recommended read.

Thank you to NetGalley and to MIT Press for access to this ARC.

Decolonizing Design was a thought-provoking look at design theory and the importance of decolonization and recentering global Indigenous cultures and histories. Tunstall is an expert and innovator in her field, and I really enjoyed hearing her thoughts, specifically regarding academic institutions.

I did go into this book expecting a different type of "design" to be centered, so do go into this knowing that it is more in terms of design theory/technology/higher education/culture.

First of all I'd like to thank the publisher and author for making this text available on this forum.
I honestly have mixed feelings about this book. It is clear that the author is at the top of her field and is at the leading edge of decolonization efforts in design, and particularly in hiring practices. And so, there are a lot of ways the book is a great success and shines a light on what is clearly going to be the future of design.
Unfortunately, for me at least, as someone outside the design industry, there was a disconnect between the book's title and its content. It seemed to be as much about decolonizing hiring in academia as about decolonizing design itself. From the title, I had expected to learn about specific ways contemporary design practices don't work for BIPOC folk, and to find positive examples of what decolonizing design can do. (I'm thinking of an article I recently came across about an Indigenous architect in Canada and how she used principles of her culture and the surrounding landscape into the design of a community centre). That was obviously not the book the author wanted to write (at least not at this juncture), and is not necessarily an indication of any weakness on the part of the content itself. But it does make me wonder if the title might create some problems in getting it into the right hands, and put it into more hands, like mine, that aren't the intended audience. All in all, I'm very glad to have read it, and the sections that did touch on design principles were fascinating (the section about the course bringing the Bahaus principles and Aboriginal/Torres Straits Islander cultural principles into creative tension was particularly exciting). At the end of the day, it just wasn't the book the title led me to believe it would be.

I will post an honest review, framed in a positive way, on my blog closer to the release date.

Decolonizing Design by Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall is the first book I've read about the concept of design justice. I appreciated the in depth knowledge and theory the author provides as foundational to her framework for analysis of the ways design benefits and burdens different groups of people. Tunstall calls out colonial racism and systemic exclusion not only in design but in the world at large and breaks down the facts from a macro to micro perspective while discussing the wider implications this has in her field. I appreciated her insight and opinions on where technology is headed and her ideas for ways to make things more equitable and accessible for all.

I have never heard of the IBPOC Identity Triad Positionality (Native, Slave, Settler) before reading this book and it makes a lot of sense to me to reframe the term BIPOC in this way after reading her arguments. I was deeply challenged and intellectually stimulated while reading this book and have a lot to process after reading.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the e-arc copy!