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Hello all! Following on the heels of Jessica Barness's call for papers at CAA 2020 (Design Incubation is good training ground for getting our work out there for sure!), Lisa Mercer and I have a call for papers as well: Call For Papers (Deadline: July 23, 2019) DECOLONIZING DESIGN TOWARDS SYSTEMIC EQUITY 108th CAA [fka College Art Association] Annual Conference Hilton Chicago, February 12–15, 2020 Chairs: Jessica Jacobs, Columbia College Chicago and Lisa Mercer, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign The role of the designer is shifting from that of a service provider to an individual with an epistemological understanding of design and their role in the design process. There has been an increased acknowledgement of design’s role, both in practice and in academia, in perpetuating systems of inequity through the “colonization of knowledge, the colonial conditions that inform knowledge production and validation” (Abdulla, 2016). With its focus on empathic design solutions and user research, the widespread adoption of design thinking methods has shifted some power from the designer to the user. Furthering this, some practitioners are developing methodologies that seek to intervene in and disrupt the design thinking process with new methods to foster equity-based design solutions. Designers are shifting their focus from outputs (what gets designed or built) to outcomes (future, people-centered aspirations) for longer-term, resilient, sustainable impact towards desired futures. We continue to design products, services, and systems that increase inequity, including biased algorithms, automation that leads to planned obsolescence and deskilling, and limitations on access to technology and communication. How might a change in design methods or engagement models alter solutions to be more equitable? We are interested in hearing from individuals whose scholarship and research is focused on challenging the traditional Westerns ways of knowing (Wilson, 1999) and who are developing and advocating for decolonized systems, traditions, and ways of being and knowing (Biermann, 2011). How might designers add to the discourse of a “global village” where a homogeneous world culture is dominant (Fiss, 2009)? ---- To submit a paper for consideration, please review the CAA guidelines for participants, and then email session chairs Jessica Jacobs (jjacobs@colum.edu) and Lisa Mercer (lemercer@illinois.edu) the following by July 23, 2019: 1) a completed paper proposal that adheres to the CAA template (download the template hereor directly from the guidelines page), and 2) a shortened CV (maximum two pages). Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you, Jessica Jacobs