Decolonizing the Design Process: A Case Study in Authorship, Power, and Control

While the concept of decolonization has long been an area of academic interest, it has more recently spilled over into mainstream discussion among designers, clients, and other cultural mediators. In Canada, this conversation has been amplified, in part, by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which has shed light on the destructive legacy of Canada’s settler colonialism and its Residential School Program. What started as a curriculum development project in the Design Formation Program at Langara College, necessitated a case study in how to turn theory to practice, primarily by investigating the structural biases inherent in the Western traditions of design and exploring ways in which that design paradigm might be shifted.