Locating Design Anthropology in Research and Practice: PhD workshops provoke expansion of cross-disciplinary horizons

Abstract

As an emerging field, design anthropology appears to be in the formative stages of establishing an intellectual and disciplinary location, currently caught in the turbulent waters between theory and application, academia and industry, research and practice. While the unclear nature of this new collaboration may be confronting for research students from either traditional academic discipline areas, such as anthropology, or from established practice-based design industries, it does offer the opportunity for investigative and methodological experimentation at doctoral level. The connection between design and anthropology has always been implicit; the challenge lies in making it explicit and accessible for through ongoing education, research and practice.