TRANS-HEMISPHERIC DESIGN-MAKERX
The value of trans-hemispheric seeing and thinking
Trans-Hemispheric Design-MakerX is all about turning the super-seminar conversations and knowledges published in the book series into tangible design, making, and building at the intersection of cultures. The trans-hemispheric conversations are intended to create a horizontal exchange of knowledge and know-how among those who see value in how other societies see, think, conceive, design, make, and value. The initiative is for those who see beyond the individual knower or maker of knowledge and artifacts, who come to Global South experiences, values, and knowledges to learn and add value. It is not for those that engage in extractive practices that take from the Global South to exclusively benefit those that have destituted these cultures to start with.
Knowing the past for the present and future
Trans-hemispheric Design-MakerX fulfills the purpose of the Global South Cosmologies and Epistemologies Initiative by taking the project into the realm of designing or making. The book series and super seminar diligently reconstruct and establish direct dialogues between indigenous inventions and achievements of the Global South and where they were going when they got interrupted, hijacked, distracted, deflected, marginalized, or killed by European colonization, slavery, and systemic racism. And yet the past is not a place of residence; instead we see it as necessary knowledge to turn the speculative question “Where was the know-how going?” into a practical one “Where might this know-how go in our hands, heads, and hearts?”
Impact beyond bibliometrics
The initiative goes beyond classroom learning, publishing ‘the book’ or journal article, toward making impact beyond bibliometrics or how many citations or hits. It seeks to touch the lives of people through building on how they see the world, know the world, and make do with(in) it. We explore and inflect ingredients from outside that elevate local capabilities, where current regimes of hierarchical knowledge seek to replace the local. A culture of knowing that does not end with simply knowing but knowing-how through doing and making knowledge fruitful. Where rainwater swept to the sea in summer and gave way to dry riverbeds in winter, necessary knowledge is one that builds on local water knowledge and brings in techniques learned in trans-hemispheric conversation, creating shimmering pools, spring-filled valleys, and lash-green pastures.
Building from trans-hemispheric knowing
In short, this Trans-Hemispheric Design-MakerX is as much about speculative design on possible futures as it is about creatives active in creating the present and creative pasts that serve as ingredients and tools for present and future alike. Hence we welcome any and all creative activities going on in the Global South that could benefit from collaborations with us. It can be a project of making goods, services, a podcast, a film, an invention, designing and building physical structures, and so on. Whatever it is, and it builds on Global South cosmologies and epistemologies, please let us know.
