W.E.B. Du Bois and Designs for Abolition Democracy

Abstract

Abstract Scholars and activists have reintroduced the notion of abolition to public consciousness in recent decades, but it has roots in the activist scholarship and practice of W.E.B. Du Bois on “abolition democracy.” Design has not often been seen in relationship to this tradition, in part because designers contribute to making the very systems, sites, materials, or mechanisms that abolitionist-oriented efforts oppose; for instance, those that sustain mass surveillance, incarceration, and containment. In Du Bois’s approach, however, it is also evident that there is potential for design to participate in envisioning and creating conditions for abolition democracy. In order to clarify some generative relations between design and abolition democracy, this article outlines some aspects of the theory and practice of abolition democracy from Du Bois’s writings on the Reconstruction Era, applying them to the present. It argues for the relevance of designing for abolition democracy, historically and for action today, while also pointing to the potential for emerging design practices to learn from the models of action and thought that Du Bois offers.