Published thesis – year 2

Friday of good news! My master thesis is now published and available for consult. 🎉

Collective weaving of territories: Exploring diasporic identities with Latin American Migrants.

ABSTRACT

This interaction design thesis contributes to the discussion in Decolonial design, and in particular it explores diasporic identities of Latin American migrants. Between adaptation and assimilation, several questions arise: About traces, values, practices and the materialities of these aspects, as well as the challenges for Interaction design and its methods to address them.

The design outcome is the concept of a collective identity territory expressed in an interactive map, that is continuously woven digitally through an app interface. The map is populated with memories, songs, recipes and dreams that materialise the diasporic situatedness. I consider it a critical fabulation on what maps can be.

The contribution of the outcome appeals to the notion of the Pluriverse to decolonise the notions of hybridity, identity and territory. The research departs from the notions of Chicano and transnational feminism, postcolonial and decolonial theories, epistemologies of the South and critical design. In the center of the design process is the collective speculation, using codesign methods to encourage shared reflections through visual and verbal resources.

A new method explores the narrative qualities of lines to weave and wander the interactive map.