Decolonizing Data and Design

When we think about product and policy analysis and design, we don’t often think about the colonial underpinnings of our work. Many people think of data and design as somehow “neutral” and “objective.” But if we dig deeper, we begin to understand how they can perpetuate inequalities. So, what would it mean to decolonize data and decolonize design? In this episode, we talk to Jacqueline Quinless, author of Decolonizing Data, and Dori Tunstall, author of Decolonizing Design, to answer that question. Featured guests:  Jacqueline Quinless is Associate Faculty at the Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-led Engagement and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Victoria. She has worked extensively in Indigenous communities using gender-based analysis frameworks in the context of understanding the impacts of natural resource development on the health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples. She is an award-winning public sociologist recognized for her community-based research in the advancement of Indigenous welfare in Canada.  Dori Tunstall is Former Dean, Faculty of Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD University). She is a design anthropologist, public intellectual, and design advocate who works at the intersections of critical theory, culture, and design. She was the first black person— and first black woman—to be named dean of a faculty of design. She is a recognized leader in the decolonization of art and design education. She has held faculty positions in Australia and the US, organized the U.S. National Design Policy Initiative, and served as a director of Design for Democracy.    Moderator: Darrell Bowden is the Rotman School’s Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and has more than 25 years of social justice work in higher education.    Resources: Gender Analytics: Possibilities conference  Decolonizing Data: Unsettling Conversations about Social Research Methods by Jacqueline M. Quinless Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook by Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall Check out GATE’s other resources on Indigenous innovation. Gender Analytics is a way to analyze your products, services, processes and policies with a gender lens to uncover hidden opportunities for innovation and improved effectiveness by considering gender, race, Indigeneity, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation and other identities. Learn more here: https://www.gendereconomy.org/gender-analytics-online/  Want to hear more from the Institute for Gender and the Economy? Check out our signature podcast series, Busted, which busts prominent myths about gender and the economy! Credits:  Produced by: Sarah Kaplan and Carmina Ravanera Edited by: Ian Gormely