A major contribution to the field, this ground-breaking book explores design anthropology's focus on futures and future-making. Examining what design anthropology is and what it is becoming, the authors push the frontiers of the discipline and reveal both the challenges for and the potential of this rapidly growing transdisciplinary field.Divided into four sections - Ethnographies of the Possible, Interventionist Speculation, Collaborative Formation of Issues, and Engaging Things - the book develops readers' understanding of the central theoretical and methodological aspects of future knowledge production in design anthropology. Bringing together renowned scholars such as George Marcus and Alison Clarke with young experimental design anthropologists from countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Brazil, the UK, and the United States, the sixteen chapters offer an unparalleled breadth of theoretical reflections and rich empirical case studies.Written by those at the forefront of the field, Design Anthropological Futures is destined to become a defining text for this growing discipline. A unique resource for students, scholars, and practitioners in design anthropology, design, architecture, material culture studies, and related fields.

The essays in this volume, by distinguished scholars in Pacific studies, emerge from research in a region in which the nation - like other projects of modernity - has been peculiarly tenuous. These case studies focus upon local perceptions of the state, efforts to ground nationhood in tradition, the character of national narratives, and recent transformations of the Pacific nationalism. It is striking that in many Pacific nations, "national" narratives are subordinate to other fundamental historical imaginings, such as those concerning local political dynasties and conversion to Christianity. While leaders in Pacific states have frequently sought to legitimate new nations through local "tradition" and "custom", these constructions of identity frequently mask divisions arising from gender, hierarchy and other social relationships. These studies from Papua New Guinea, Vanautu, Samoa and the Cook Islands add much to our knowledge of historical imaginings and contemporary culture in the Pacific, but raise larger questions concerning the current transformation of national identities.

Design is a key site of cultural production and change in contemporary society. Anthropologists have been involved in design projects for several decades but only recently a new field of inquiry has emerged which aims to integrate the strengths of design thinking and anthropological research.This book is written by anthropologists who actively participate in the development of design anthropology. Comprising both cutting-edge explorations and theoretical reflections, it provides a much-needed introduction to the concepts, methods, practices and challenges of the new field. "Design Anthropology" moves from observation and interpretation to collaboration, intervention and co-creation. Its practitioners participate in multidisciplinary design teams working towards concrete solutions for problems that are sometimes ill-defined. The authors address the critical potential of design anthropology in a wide range of design activities across the globe and query the impact of design on the discipline of anthropology.This volume will appeal to new and experienced practitioners in the field as well as to students of anthropology, innovation, science and technology studies, and a wide range of design studies focusing on user participation, innovation, and collaborative research.

This book explores how identities emerge, persist and change and which power resources are tapped in the course of this process.

Tradition helps to ensure continuity and stability in human affairs, signifying both the handing down of cultural heritage from one generation to the next, and the particular customs, beliefs and rituals being handed down. In the social sciences, tradition has been a central concept from the very start. Yet -- to update the old quip about nostalgia -- tradition is not what it used to be. Twenty years ago, Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger showed in The Invention of Tradition how new governments acquire legitimacy and status by creating traditional ceremonies and identities. Their work helped revolutionise the understanding of tradition in anthropology, history and sociology, stimulating an enormous amount of research on invented and imagined traditions. However, most of this research has focussed on the cultural dynamics of specific local innovations and reactions to global developments. The present anthology seeks to highlight instead just how widespread the invention and revival of traditions is. The individual chapters feature a fascinating series of case studies from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Australia, and Europe, while the editors provide an overview of how the various discussions address the larger questions of cultural continuity, agency and the use of cultural resources. In the postscript, Terence Ranger offers a complementary perspective by tracing the effects of nationalism, imperialism and globalised exchange on tradition.