Design Anthropology in Practice: Design in Social and Political Context

The RVW course  ‘Design in Social and Political Context’ introduces students across the design disciplines to international, leading ideas and voices in the field of design, curation, design writing, design history, social science and practice exploring design in contemporary theoretical context. This  semester’s lecture series will explore the implications of design in relation to the legacies,  futures and controversies of development paradigms.

As this is a co-taught course students must also register with Prof. Alison Clarke: https://base.uni-ak.ac.at/courses/2025S/S04976/

For successful completion of this course the following requirements apply: 

• regular, punctual attendance (50% of grade)
• active participation in the Q&A sessions following the guest lectures (20% of grade)
• an essay (+/- 1000 words) in the form of an exploratory "think-piece" of reflections on the students’ own practice in relation to the guest lectures (30% of grade) – we do not accept work generated by AI or created through plagiarism; references in footnotes are strictly required (https://www.scribbr.de/chicago-zitierweise/literaturverzeichnis-chicago-style/) 
• Essay submission to designtheory@uni-ak.ac.at. Deadline: June 13th. Later submissions cannot be considered for the grading!

As this is a co-taught course students must also register with Prof. Alison Clarke: https://base.uni-ak.ac.at/courses/2025S/S04976/