This edited volume (published in November 2023) features contributions from 21 authors, many of whom are long-time collaborators of the network. It contains honest and critical reflections from practitioners and scholars from Aotearoa New Zealand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Samoa, Thailand, Vanuatu and a continent now called Australia, exploring issues of ethics, politics, and positionality. The 15 chapters touches on recurring themes explored through the DESIAP network; relational entanglements, respect and reciprocity, and situated practices.
The book emerged out of a need to showcase stories of designing social innovations that have been ongoing under other names. These everyday practices often unrecognised, are rooted in places, cultures, histories, tensions, and wisdoms in the diverse Asia-Pacific region. It highlights the importance of respecting multiple knowledge streams, worldviews, and practices situated in a place. This then supports a plurality of designing social innovation. In all, this book offers ways to sharpen focus on entangled pluralities as a central condition for designing. It will be of interest to scholars working in social innovation, service design, social design, participatory design, design anthropology and Asian studies.
The book is divided into three sections. Section 1: Plural Ontologies features chapters exploring the importance of attending to and learning from local practices and acknowledge multiple knowledge streams to strengthen plural discourses. Section 2: Entangled Realities celebrate the strength of bonds, whether they are among women, creative practitioners or within communities that underpin how designing social innovation is sustained. Section 3: Enabling Practices written by practitioners, as honest, layered and atypical reflections of undertaking designing social innovation.
The hardback and E-book versions are available here. The author accepted version of the book’s Introduction is also available to read here.