SMArt Talks: Design Anthropology: Cold War Experiments in Material Culture

Based on original archival research, this talk explores the controversial application of social science to indigenous material cultures of newly decolonised nations of the Global South in the Cold War period. Industrial designers, equipped with anthropological methods, were used as operatives within the broader geopolitics of US expansionism, tasked with transforming local craft cultures for large-scale capitalist economies. This talk casts a critical eye over the political origins of design anthropology; the amalgamation of ethnography and design practice that has come to operate as the invisible hand behind multiple facets of global life from health care provision, through to governance and data harnessing in present day Neo-Liberal economies.

Alison J. Clarke is a design historian and trained social anthropologist who holds the chair of design history and theory at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, following a senior role at the Royal College of Art, London. Her work bridges history and anthropology, placing her at the forefront of design anthropology and material culture studies. She is the author of several influential books, including Victor Papanek: Designer for the Real World (2021) and Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s America (1999), the latter adapted into a USA Emmy-nominated documentary. Clarke leads major international research projects, including a current Austrian Science Fund project on Cold War design and social science, and directs the Victor J. Papanek Foundation, organizing global symposia and exhibitions. A recipient of numerous international fellowships and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Southern Denmark, she has over 25 years of teaching experience and contributes regularly to international media, including the award-winning BBC series The Genius of Design.