Weaving critical theory, fashion, electronics, and makerspaces in learning: fashioning circuits – a case study

Abstract

ABSTRACTFashioning Circuits is a humanities course designed to explore how fashion, electronics, social issues, and makerspaces interact with design and critical theory. Digital humanities scholars and practitioners have seen an emergence of public art and representation beyond the academy, specifically applying interdisciplinary university curricula to youth learners in the community. As this university course expands into the public domain, the social discourse around gender, technology, and fashion are threaded with the “making” opportunities to tinker and design in order to solve real-world problems in the community. This article is an ethnographic case study, which details the Fashioning Circuits learning experiences, specifically to understand how open education projects and shared curriculum knowledge can exist within the postsecondary and community learning environments. Through the intersection of media ecologies and contemporary fashion design offers this emerging pedagogical practice asks learners to build artifacts that engage with real-world problems. To encourage critical making, that is, an emphasis on the process rather than the product, it is important to center learning experiences around issues and ideas to find solutions and not focus on end technological outcomes alone.