100% bag tanned: action research generating new insights on design processes

Abstract

This article discusses two examples of experimentation with design and anthropology using action research as a method, combining observations and engagement through making. The author describes the use of action research vis-à-vis handmade footwear in two communities in India, to better understand the design process in its context. The author worked with the Kolhapuri artisans in Athani, Karnataka, and with the Jutti artisans in Ranthambore, Rajasthan, to gather information on the skills of creating footwear and on what it means to make footwear in those communities. In the first part of this article, a description of what is understood by ‘design and making’ is offered. Both cases show that form is not imposed on the material, but that they mutually influence each other. In the second part, the process of action research in the two communities is described. The third part reflects on the interactivity of the research and its contribution for design anthropology. Can we talk about reciprocal ethnography? In the present approach, the apprenticeship the researcher did with the artisans assumes a dialogue and interactivity which results in shared ethnographic power. By focusing on the processes of design formation in a specific environment, the risk of pseudo-ethnography (Foster 1995) – whereby only partial engagement with the community is achieved – is avoided.