DEFSA Call for papers

My supervisor suggested I should take a look at this call for entries by Design Education Forum of Southern Africa. They are looking for papers under the topic:

Design Educators reflect on the call for the decolonisation of education.

I was thinking of just rephrasing the issue. Something like this:

Becoming aware of one’s own biases as a designer and understanding how the colonial set up still affects design today. How does the heritage of colonisation show in my work as a European designer illustrating African characters.

I just can’t add that education aspect to the topic. If I emphasised on the decolonisation aspect, maybe it would still pass.

AutoethnoGRAPHIC novel?

I have been reading The Ethnographic I: A Methodological Novel about Autoethnography (Ethnographic Alternatives) by Carolyn Ellis. I’m sold. I love this research method! 

It crossed my mind that if the purpose of this kind of research is to tell stories to bring the emotions and personal experiences tangible ,then what would be a better form than a comic?

I would be so interested in making this thesis in comic form. There is a risk that the form would draw attention from the content though. Still, I am tossing this idea. I’m not at all sure however wether this topic translates well to a graphical form. I mean it’s pretty boring thing in the end when someone is drawing. But if I’d draw a bit of my experiences in Ghana it might be a bit more interesting.

Here is what I’m gonna do: I will continue as if I’m just doing a regular form thesis, but I will also keep in mind the comic. At the point where I am to form the story I will try if I can use the comic format. If it appears boring or distracting, I will leave it there.

Examples of the format:

http://www.utpteachingculture.com/announcing-ethnographic-a-new-series/

https://anthrocomics.wordpress.com/comics-anthropology/

From anthrocomics.wordpress.com

https://comicsforum.org/2012/02/03/anthropology-goes-comics-by-hannah-wadle/

Linked to the topic is visual autoethnography:

https://books.google.fi/books?id=AcBsjtkmPWkC&pg=PA244&lpg=PA244&dq=visual+autoethnography&source=bl&ots=rO4Qh9PQYE&sig=4nbDyDhxyn8ZqsHkNm9AEahP5mk&hl=fi&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQ-YTuh-rQAhXGWCwKHei9BlYQ6AEILzAC#v=onepage&q=visual%20autoethnography&f=false

Visualisation of bibliography

I have found some good books and articles already.

I have not got the methodology books yet, but I have a list of interesting titles. Two of the books on auto ethnography are in the University of Tampere library. The Chang 2008 could be borrowed from distance with a fee. Or bought at 30 euros.

As of now I have no idea of a good book on semiotics. Have to do browsing on that.

Also I don’t know if I should include theory on races. It seems slightly irrelevant, but maybe I should take a quick look anyhow.

I would also need to expand on the stereotype theory.

I think the methodological literature is my most urgent need at the moment.

Dancers

I wanted to produce a dancing character. It proved to be a challenging task. I pretty much hate the outcome.

Seriously bad bad stereotypes of femme fatales or something. Black disco diva trash.

Print screen from Shakira’s Waka Waka video.

 

I had to use youtube videos to draw from. It’s hard to draw someone dancing. The outcome is so stiff. 

The last image came out as a black teen fairy. Not quite what I set out for but at least no stereotypes going on here. It also does not somehow really look like African dancing to me. Would have to explore this subject more. I have done West African dances with Nigerian and Senegalese instructors so this really should not be this difficult.

One thing I have noticed that because I’m in a look out for stereotypes it makes me really self-conscious and it really limits me. I feel I can’t really relax and draw whatever comes to my mind and feel like giving up and not finishing the drawings.

Stereotype: head porter

I set off to study stereotypes trough drawing. The outcome is horrible. Makes me wanna puke. I don’t know if  I really got anything out of the precess of creating this peace of … Ashamed to even publish this. I guess this is not all that good approach. But I still want to produce atlas one parody that would bite to the bone of racist caricatures.

I’m truly sorry for this. It’s part of a process trying to dig deeper inside the matter.

I would like to try to place some short of stereotypical character in same image with a non stereotypical image and make them interact. That is why I was exploring the stereotypes.

I feel like I have to justify my drawings with apologetic writing though.

Power

I wanted to portray a powerful character, someone who is really confident and uses the rhetoric of power.

I googled powerful man and got… Putin!

Screen capture of Google search of “powerful man”. This image was not attributed but I think it’s by Richard Avedon.

I really liked the image so I stole it.

Black Putin

I added a globe to his hand, which I also stole from another photo of Putin.

I added an adinkra symbol of leadership to the design. Adinkra symbols are used by the Ashanti of Ghana. Not very intercontinental thing I guess but I think if I want to do something convincing I’d better focus on one culture instead of trying to make some short of generalisation. It’s a huge continent after all.

adinkra.org

It did not look quite African enough so I tried adding colour to it. That is actually a preconceived conception right there, that what makes something African is a ton of bright colours.

I started with a red background but that was a mistake. My dude started to look like a nazi leader. Plus red has bad connotations in Ghana as it is associated with funerals and witch craft.

I changed the colour scheme and went for golden kente pattern. Kente is a valued textile in Ghana, commonly worn by the local leaders known as chiefs or kings. Each kente cloth design carries is a meaning. There are designs that are to be used only by kings.Unfortunately I don’t know enough about kente so I might be stepping on a risky area here. Definitely if I am to use kente motif I will have to make some enquiries.

Screen capture of google search of royal kente.

My sketch is ready. It looks like a macho man in a suite. Like a Hollywood version of an African dictator. Not very positive vibes.

I do like the fact that here is an image of a powerful African and not one that is meek and mild or down right begging for mercy. I like the fact that my character has attitude and a story behind him. However, the images seems to be full of clichés.  I mean golden globe, Rolex and a throne, please… The image also promotes the stereotype of an arrogant black macho man who is only interested in wealth and showing of.

 

Working Diary Day 1

At my teacher’s suggestion I’m going to start sketching already. I will keep a diary about the process.

I have already collected some samples from the microstock sites. I took 50 samples from each site totalling 250 images. I did not analyse the images but I do have an impression of their over all look.

A typical illustration would portray a anonymous (without even facial features) ink black female in colourful and slightly revealing clothes dancing or carrying a pot in her head. This to me represents somewhat outdated and idealistic image of exotic African woman, who has really no history and no purpose. Just a pretty exotic image, very much like those images you see in souvenirs shops.  So this is something I want to brake away from.

 

Sample from AdobeStock portraying figures which have become a cliché by now.

I will begin my work by looking for source of inspiration from my pre-existing Pinterest board where I have collected interesting fine art samples with African and other black characters.

I have two ways to go about this: either to produce illustrations that provide a better option for those that already exist or to make illustrations that criticise and provoke trough the use of irony. For now, I will just sketch anything and will do the decision later.

Shaping the proposal

I have been drafting the final thesis proposal. It’s really hard work trying to make sense of it all and what I really want to find out in my study. Now I think I have finally landed somewhere. I just hope this is not too heavy topic to me as it borders psychology and and other areas that smart people write about. Who am I, a poor little designer, to write about issues like social bias? Well, I hope I can give some small contribution from my point of view.

I’m thinking I should make some short of diagram of the proposal, to make it easy to present to my group. Maybe I could also add some other illustrative materials. like samples of the sites. It could even be a Prezi presentation, though I’m not sure if that is a good idea considering that Prezis are free for everybody to view. But we’ll see.

Goals

This study is about the way social biases dictate the design process when it involves portraying outgroups and what affect does consciousness of the designer’s own biases have in the process and the outcome of the design. The goal of the study is to shed light on the role of biases in the design process.

The outcome of the study will be series of illustrations which seek to criticize the current proposedly stereotypical portray of African characters rampant in the microstock collections.

Introduction of the Research Proposal

In my work as graphic designer in a public university in Ghana, African characters are often the subject of my illustrations. As a European portraying Africans I am in a position where I might be unconsciously reinforcing stereotypes and repeating clichés. In order to avoid biased portrayal of a group, the designer needs to be aware of his or her own biases and the way these biases may affect the design process and ultimately the outcome.

This study is about the way social biases dictate the design process when it involves portraying outgroups and what affect does consciousness of the designer’s own biases have in the process