Design and Anthropology

Abstract

In this review, I examine the recent turn to design in anthropology in three different configurations: anthropology of design, anthropology for design, and design for anthropology. Although these three configurations represent different cuts in a complex set of relations between these two disciplines, I have chosen to discuss them together because they all represent—though not always obviously so—attempts to contend with the moral implications of humans intervening in the lives of other humans. One goal of this article is to specify and evaluate a long-standing but underarticulated regard for design and designed things in anthropology while also offering a framework for critically engaging anthropology's relationship with design in its multiple configurations.