Empowering Marginalized Populations- Bastar, Chhattisgarh, India
Research | Critical Design and Social Theory | Social Impact
A research project under ICE (Institute of Customer Experience at Human Factors International) and CGNet Swara to understand and analyse CGNet Swara's work in Bastar through a critical lens.
Introduction
Research Papers
Speculative and Critical Design — Features, Methods, and Practices
by Johannessen, Leon Karlsen; Keitsch, Martina Maria; Pettersen, Ida Nilstad
A project under ICE (Institute of Customer Experience - Human Factors International) and CGNet Swara- an organisation that aims to amplify the voices of the locals in Chhattisgarh through a voice-based online portal.
The idea was to explore and better understand the area/communities of Bastar through the lens of critical design theory and develop an overall problem statement and considerations in developing a landscape of possible roles that design can play in facilitating change, keeping in mind the now and the future.
Bastar is a region in the state of Chhattisgarh in central India and is symptomatic of the situation in the tribal tracks of mainland India. Bastar is one of the poorest areas of the country, with two-thirds of its population being Adivasi (indigenous people of mainland South Asia). Divided into seven districts, this mineral-rich, forested region is also the most militarized zone in the country. Here, a war rages – in some places more visibly than in others, for control over their identity and culture.
A set of principles for conducting critical research in information systems
by Michael D. Myers and Heinz K. Klein
The Critical Social Theory approach to Information Systems: Problems and Challenges
by Ojelanki K. Ngwenyama
The Challenges of Redressing the Digital Divide: A Tale of Two US cities
by Lynette Kvasny and Mark Keil
Our Key Takeaways
Working towards mutual understanding and social good.
Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action talks about when actors are oriented towards mutual understanding only then emancipation & liberation can be achieved. Sometimes it's important to question not just the system, but also understand what & how it is affecting the people and work towards mutual understanding.
Understand the difference between critique and insight even when they work together.
Having a broad insightful understanding of the current situation before engaging in critical analysis. Critique reveals our understanding stemming from research. In any insight lies a critical element and while inquiring we should always take that into consideration.
Consider the implications of your design.
Inspired from Speculative Critical Design, it's important to design knowing your creations have consequences. Is all design good? Does all design solve problems? Does design actually make people's lives better? SCD suggests that design can do all those things, but not if practiced ‘mindlessly’, solely to reach commercial goals.
Sometimes conjectures can result in wild transformative solutions.
It's okay to not dive deep, and it's okay to have opinions. Sometimes they lead you into questioning in ways you wouldn't have thought before. Speculative Design deals with such realities. It's alright to show a way, a future and not have all the information to back it.
CGnet's Impact Work
How might we make people self sufficient and less dependent on CGnet to resolve their problems?
How can we look at the root cause of the problems instead of resolving them once they arise?
What are people dependent on CGnet for? Is it just to make their voice heard?
How does technology play a role, is it segregating more than bringing together?
Do the people of Bastar truly trust CGnet? Can this trust be developed and/or harnessed?
Voices
Who gets to voice these opinions? Is there bias there itself?
Are the actions that people are taking their own? Are the stories they're speaking coming from them or are they collectively decided? How major of a role does community action and togetherness play in amplifying voices?
Are females feeling comfortable enough to truly voice their concerns? How can this stigma be tackled? Where is this stigma stemming from?
Are these stories reaching people for support or just for resolution?
The Community
What is Bastar known for? Is CGnet amplifying the right voices?
People are using a platform, but is it actually connecting the community together in real life?
How can the community of Bastar benefit from CGnet swara? Could it provide real tangible benefits to the people in terms of upliftment and opportunity?
Are these conflicts painting a true picture of Bastar? Is it altering the onlookers/outsiders perspective?
How can democracy be encouraged in Bastar?
How can we involve more communities from the outside?
How might we educate people of Bastar to make them more self reliant?
Could CGnet Swara and other existing systems placed in Bastar educate and expose the community to varied knowledge bases?
CGnet's Impact Work
In order to reach wider audiences and expand CGnet to get more people onboard we're proposing curating mentored spaces aimed at educating people and creating market friendly prototypes for value added products, for economic growth and leveraging social capital. Another approach could be organising training programs held by volunteers at CGnet to teach the community the work CGnet is doing to make them more self sufficient.
Educating the people of Bastar about their rights & entitlements and affirming people to bring about change could also result in a significant change. Exposures from collaborations with external design spaces will increase the community's knowledge base.
A resource symbiosis model could potentially be devised which can be customised based on the village's socio-cultural needs. All of these will aid in the community getting stronger and resulting in impact coming from within rather than from CGnet Swara. Ethnographic researchers can come in and text their hypothesis in social sciences too.
Voices
Taking into account Habermas' idea of cognitive interests and the principles of individual emancipation, the principles of improvements in society and the principles of revealing and challenging prevailing beliefs and social practices, we realised that there could be aspects to consider when looking at uplifting and amplifying voices.
Women still might feel pressurised by existing social stigma and the community still be be resilient to voicing hard, uncomfortable issues. For that we propose looking at harnessing already existing platforms in Bastar such as the various women camps or self-help groups and adding valuable experiences to them. This could be done through more volunteer based participatory engagements, community meets, workshops & creating solutions to challenges with the community and along the way using CGnet not only as a platform for people to tell stories but also document their journeys.
This could benefit CGnet as it hopes to result in richer & raw-er stories and more self sufficiency from the community.
What if women could come together for a common goal?
How can all people of the community come together and talk about hard topics?
Can CGnet Swara be more than just a platform to tell stories?
Could CGnet Swara amplify, support & document?
How can we combat the lack of reach?
How might we enable the community of Bastar to preserve their culture?
Can already existing power structures be challenged?
How can we facilitate people learning from people?
The Community
Inspired from Foucault's principle of giving people power and providing tools which individuals can use themselves as they see fit and also Bindu's work on tourism - we're proposing a system which aims at raising economic conditions and reach for the community of Bastar. Addition to Bindu's work, workshops could be held to teach the onlookers techniques, art-forms, cultures native to Bastar. This encourages a direct relationship between artisans and potential buyers & aims to increase conversations between locals and tourists in the hope that the locals will become more aware of what life outside Bastar is like. The locals can also educate the onlookers about their practises & ways of living. The goal is equal distribution of power, for learning to occur on both sides with no hierarchies and pure intentions.
Another approach is what SCD states- the role of critical design is to affect how the social world develops. A collective, open for all archive to contribute to the voices of not only the Adivasi but also a safe space for women to express concerns on hard, "taboo" topics inspired by Anganwadi systems.
