Decolonising design

Abstract

This chapter covers the establishment of the first master’s digital humanities programme in India, as well as a research agenda that contextualizes and embeds such work in an Indian environment. It discusses the shift that this context generates, in terms of necessarily moving away from modelling on paradigms established in Anglo-American institutions, and towards the creation of a locally reflexive practice that responds more appropriately to its conditions. It historicises these arguments, demonstrating how design is implicated in the work of colonialism, and how the praxis of critical making (as formulated by Matt Ratto and Garnet Hertz) can contribute both to decolonising design and humanities scholarship, as well challenging traditional institutional frameworks of colonial-influenced education. It will demonstrate how critical making is a useful mode of inquiry where digital humanities work is relatively nascent, in order to supplement and inform a narrative of the history of digital humanities in India.