Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Medical Design Anthropology, Improvisational Practices and Future Imaginings

in Anthropology in Action
Author:
Jonathan Ventura Hadassah Academic College jonathan.ventura@mail.huji.ac.il

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Wendy Gunn RMIT University wendy.gunn@rmit.edu.au

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Abstract

The body as an anthropological nexus of sociocultural norms and conventions has been discussed at length in the humanities and social sciences. However, within the worlds of industrial design, an important player influencing an understanding of the body within a design process has been neglected and that is the industrial designer. Our main thesis considers designing as an anthropological, sociocultural and physical praxis, in the midst of which stand person(s) engaging within their material environments. We argue that, as an interdisciplinary dialogue with anthropologists and designers alike, the industrial designer could pursue a broader perspective than the classic techno-practice perspective, which deliberately detaches the social qualities of human action with the aim of changing user behaviour through the use of medical products. Instead, we propose an understanding of industrial design practice(s) that considers the improvisational and interwovenness of peoples and practices and what this means for attuning industrial design practices accordingly.

Contributor Notes

Jonathan Ventura is a design anthropologist, currently teaching at the Department of Inclusive Design at Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, and at Shenkar – Engineering. Design. Art. He is also a research fellow at the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, London. He specialises in applied anthropology, design anthropology, and social and medical design. His latest publications include: ‘Uncanny Mechanics: Industrial Design and the Threatened Body’, Design Philosophy Papers 13(1) (Taylor and Francis-Routledge); and a co-authored article with Haim Yacobi and Sharon Danzig, ’Walls, Enclaves and the [Counter] Politics of Design’, Journal of Urban Design 21(4), 481–494. (Taylor and Francis-Routledge). E-mail: jonathan.ventura@mail.huji.ac.il

Wendy Gunn is Senior Research Fellow, Research[x] Design Research Group, Department of Architecture, KU Leuven, Belgium. She is also Adjunct Professor, DERC, Digital Ethnography Research Centre, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Her current research seeks to leverage scientific research involving sensorial experience and perceptual acuity of patients, hospital staff and visitors into architectural and engineering design processes and practices towards improving air quality within hospital settings. This research aims to advance anthropology by means of design (rather than for, or, of design). E-mail: wendy.gunn@rmit.edu.au

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