JOIN US AT THE FIRST DESIGN JUSTICE

MEDITERRANEA MEETING!

Pisa (Italy) 13th -15th of October 2019

Design Justice Mediterranea

We were so excited about the existence of the Design Justice Network! We want to build on the incredible work carried out by the original Northern American group to set up a Mediterranean network of people that resonate with similar intersectional feminist values and work so that we can exchange and reshape design practices together. Our focus on the Mediterranean is to reclaim an identity around this geography. In what ways can the original Design Justice discourse be enriched from our situated experiences? In our current political climate (especially concerning migration) we want to diverge from the Global North / South dichotomy and development narratives. We want to develop critical and creative practices to design processes starting from what is already working locally across the region. As part of our process we want to engage critically with the concept of fortress Europe and Europe as a monolithic entity. We acknowledge different routes to innovation, questioning power dynamic framing the Mediterranean as backward, lazy, and powerless especially after the economic crises in the past decade. We want to create more access to resources and collective intelligence and develop materials in languages other than English (check out here the first translation of the Design Justice principles to Spanish!).

Ultimately, we want to create a Mediterranean practice that interweaves histories, geographies, and politics. How can we defy these narratives? We believe there are important shared values, practices, migrations, and social contexts within this geography. So how do we unite our ability to co-create and rethink strategies and tactics for a more radically just world?

Pisa Retreat

We are planning a two day retreat in Pisa (Italy) the 13th -15th of October. We have managed to secure shared accommodation in a spacious home, where we will be able to get to know each other, dream and plan together. Currently, we will only be able to host 15 people in total, so if you’re interested, please let us know as soon as possible. Currently we are negotiating payment for accommodation which we expect to be about 25 euro a day. We will individually contribute to food expenses (although we are working to sourcing accessible food options). We currently do not have a budget to support your travel to Pisa but if you needed support you could apply through the step travel grant and are currently looking for other ways to support travel expenses. Do let us know if you would like us to support you with this process! You can email us through: djnetmed@gmail.com.

During this informal meeting we are hoping to:

Creating a basic framework for what Design Justice means within the framework of the Mediterranean geography i.e. what methods and ideas around justice do we have?
Create the organizational foundations for the network
Share and collect good (and less than good) practices
Map knowledges
Possibly create working groups around different themes and ideas
Outline strategies for creating shareable resources and transparent, accessible, and locally responsive practices
Discuss what additional outcomes from this network we would like to see in the future (A series of local DJ nodes? Planning a future retreat? Creating knowledge around a different theme? Writing and translating materials in different languages? Develop training materials?)
Meet each other and have fun! (That includes eating food in the Italian countryside)

Are you or someone you know someone interested?

Who are we looking for?

We are looking forward to building a community of practice that is made of people from different life paths, professional and personal backgrounds. Over time, we would love for this to grow into a fluid and diverse group of people, experiences and expertise. Because of our limitations in terms of funding and the current limit of our international networks we know that this initial retreat may not be as representative of our aspirations. But as we move forward we will strive to collaborate with more diverse experiences. We would love to be in touch with:

People formally or informally involved in different fields connected with design processes and mindset (a few examples could be cultural production, data architecture, grassroots activism, tech, civic participation, research, policy or urban design.. and many more fields)
Currently we have an over representation of people residing in the Spanish state and in Italy and we want to be held accountable for this limitation and welcome more Mediterranean geographies and persons to be present.. but please do register even if you are from these locations!
We are conscientious that everyone has different contexts and rhythms for work, but would like to invite people that are interested in contributing time to getting this started and would like to contribute to this decentralised network in the months to come.
People who have read/signed onto the Design Justice Principles and are using, or want to use this in their work

Please feel free to spread the word to anyone you know might be interested in joining us. If you would like to attend the retreat (in Pisa or digitally) or would like to keep in touch about the Design Justice Mediterranea Network, please fill this form and tell us briefly tell us about you. Do let us know if you have any accessibility needs we can help you with..

You can email us through djnetmed@gmail.com for any questions or say hi!

Who are we?

We are a group of 5 individuals from different organisations (Platoniq, Data Liquen Lab, DigitalFems etc) who have met by the magic of the universe and the internet. When we met, we realized that we were incredibly inspired by the Design Justice Network and wanted to do something that spoke to our experiences. Support from Fondazione Sistema Toscana (organiser of the 2019 Internet Festival) allowed us to be able to invite two of the founding members of the original DJN over to Pisa to meet with us and support us into kick starting this new exciting node.

We would love for you to join us and see what can happen next!