Edelweiss Juliea
When was the first time you realised your skin has colour?
Subtle everyday acts of racism, also known as microaggressions, are âinnocentâcomments or questions that give the receivers a feeling of discomfort. Asking a Dutch born Asian an âinnocentâ question like: Where are you really from? can influence the personâs mental and physical wellbeing, sense of belonging, and self-esteem. Initiatinga conversation about microaggressions and racism is challenging due to its sensitivity and complexity. Therefore, in this study, we stimulate this conversation through the use of co-design and prototyping the dialogue. In this study, we explore which intervention tools can help Dutch Asians more healthily cope with racism and how they can be empowered to address these microaggressions through design fiction and design activism.
We created seven intervention tools that highlight needs from the âbefore, during, and afterâ stages of the experience of a microaggression. These are integrated in a fictional website called the âMicro Intervention Martâ which presents the tools for sale. These tools were designed with the help of multiple co-creation sessions where we explored design Fiction and design Activism, paper prototypes, and shared experiences around the table in a safe setting. While everyone's detailed experience is unique, we noted a clear pattern of frustration, fear, and a need to practice what to say. In my thesis, I used a research through design approach with a core of Participatory design, as well as the option of Design Fiction combined with Design Activism to explore this context.
This study approach inspired participants to see different ways of coping with microaggressions, and it created awareness of the experience of subtle racism. Although time was limited to four months of exploring, designing, and testing, in the surveys and interviews participants showed that their intention to address microaggressions had shifted knowing this be a perceived observation and not action-based observations. Worth noting is that In this study, we only explored the perspective of a group of Dutch Asians participants, and not all diaspora communities.
