DIASPORA
A DIFFERENT WORLD VIEW
Keywords...4
AbstrAct...5
Listof figures...6
AcKnowLedgements...7
chApter 1: introduction...8
1.1 syriAns Among the oLd And new diAsporA...9
1.2 chALLenges of designers in the diAsporA...10
1.3 sociAL cApitAL impAct...11
1.4 inviting syriAns of the diAsporA to our initiAtive...12
1.5 introducing coLLective creAtion And issues in common...16
chApter 2: 2.1 emptiness As A common ground And A touchpiont...18
2.2 orgAnizing the teAmworK And communicAtion...20
2.3 motivAtion, chALLenge perspectives, And wAys of thinKing...21
2.4 coLLAborAtor within A cuLturAL context...22
2.5 syriAns of the diAsporA A cuLturAL product...24
chApter 3: 3.1 coLLAborAtor within A worKing Life context...27
3.2 how sociAL cApitAL And coLLective worK couLd soLve enterprenur -ship for emigrAnts...28
3.3 diAgnosing emerging possibiLities from i to we...30
3.4 hArvesting chAnge...32
3.5 metAdesignAttheheArtoftheprocess ...34
3.6 AwAreness & educAtion worKshop ...36
3.6 prototype of the outcome...39
3.6 cuLtureAnd prActicAL worKshop...50
3.6 A community spAce mAnifesto...51
3.6 whowouLdgotothiscLub? A cLubforwhom?...58
3.6 counter-nArrAtives worKshop...60
chApter 4: 4.1 concLusions...63
4.2 our sustAinAbiLity & chAnge decLArAtion...64
4.3 metA refLection...65
references...66
Table of
Contents
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This project proposes and uses co-creation design methods, a design appro- ach based on allowing users to play a design role; by creating a project. The design process comprises design specialists and participants from various specialties and ages, then finding common ground and interests to develop a future work plan. Collective creation designers can provide tools and wor- kshops to support and develop a fledgling community initiative that works within design and change. After the Syrians were exposed to a movement towards world countries, forming a diaspora condition within their families and host societies. This project was implemented in January 2021, with two collaborating students of the Bachelor of Design + Change at Linnaeus Inter- national University in Sweden, titled ‘’Syrians of The Diaspora’’. The project deals with collective creation in addressing issues to which immigrants are exposed, several issues that cause feelings of despair, and loss of creative va- lue, influenced by their neglected skills and life experiences. To create a ‘’vo- cational cultural knowledgeable club’’ in the host country that employs their skills and presents them to the host community, facilitating integration plans.
Why work with co-creative design?
‘‘The real JOY of design is to deliver fresh perspectives, improved well being and an intuitive sense of balance with the wider world. The real SPIRIT of design elicits some higher meaning. The real POWER of design is that pro- fessionals and laypeople can co-design in amazingly creative ways. The real BEAUTY of design is its potential for secular, pluralistic expression. The real STRENGTH of design is this healthy variance of expression. The real RELE- VANCE of design is its ability to be proactive. The real PASSION of design is
in its philosophical, ethical, and practical debate.’’ (Fuad-Luke 2009, p. xix )
ABSTRACT
Keywords
Action Research Design Activisim
Cultural Acceptability Awarness Rasing
Social Capital Change Agency Co-creation Co-overcome
Collaborative Customization Community Construction Counter Narratives
Design For The Real World Enterprise Model
Equality and Inequality Facilitation
Manifesto
Human Development Metadesign
Social Cohesion
Sustainable Development
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LIST OF FIGURES
Acknowledgements
Figure (1.1): Invitation Card...13
Figure (1.2): Invitation Card Text...14
Figure (1.3): Meeting Instruction Card...14
Figure (1.4): Communication Card...15
Figure (1.5): Postcard Cover...15
Figure (1.6): Postcard Info Layout...15
Figure (1.7): Two screenshots taken from a short video exemplifying collective creation...16-17 Figure (2.1-1): Process Map...20
Figure (2.2): Active Zoom Meeting...21
Figure (2.1-2): Process Map...23
Figure (2.2): A List Of Creative Identity Cards...25-26 Figure (2.1-3): Process Map...27
Figure (2.1-4): Process Map...29
Figure (2.1-5): Full Process Map...31
Figure (3.1): Design Thinking Approach...33
Figure (3.2): Symbiotic Relationships Diagram...34
Figure (3.3): Meta-Design Diagram...35 Figure (3.4): Friends and Food Adventures Story...41-49 Figure (3.4): A Community Space Manifesto...52-57 Figure (3.5): Life Cycles Project...58-59
We want to thank all the participants in this community-building project from people of Syrian origins in the diaspora.
Our participants do not necessarily identify themselves as pure Syrians instead as people of Syrian origins. We have people born in Syria and then left Syria since they were children before the war took place, and we have those who have second citizenship from different countries of the world and those who left Syria during and after the war.
These people gathered together and responded to our invitation because they share the same feelings about being in the diaspora with challenges.
We thank them for the love they showed and the time they have spent every Saturday night with us for six weeks, and we are hum- bled to see their different skills and expertise, which they worked hard to develop through their lives.
The diaspora has brought Syrians and those of Syrian origin diversity and strength in their new creative identities they have each built and made.
Also, our collaborators were very generous when sharing their different experiences with us and have motivated our participants with their stories. We have had collaborators interested in emi- grants and their challenges and were full of love and positivity.
THANK YOU ALL FOR THESE AMAZING SIX WEEKS!
YOU MADE THIS THESIS PROJECT POSSIBLE.
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The Syrian society was historically built from a mixture of different eth- nicities and origins. However, Syria was a destination for many people emigrating seeking a safe habitat or immigrating seeking a better habi- tat. Therefore, many cultures contri- buted to building Syria through their rich knowledge. The current Syrians result from the succession of these demographic changes, societies, and various civilizations, which generated a community of multiple talents and skills living in harmony and peace.
’’Syria provided what has often been called the crossroads of the Near East because through it passed some of the most important routes that lin- ked Mesopotamia and lands further east with the land of the Nile, and the land of the Mediterranean and the western world beyond it. That helps account for the rich cultural melting pot that ancient Syria became, clearly reflected in its archeological remains as well as in its written records. And it also accounts for the wealth and affluence that characterized many regions and cities of Syria through much of its history.’’ (Bryce 2014, p. 7)
In the last ten years, this community faced crises that led to a new emigra- tion building a new diaspora condi- tion worldwide. When Syrian people left their country, they took with them their life skills and their socio-cultural heritage. Their journey was empowe- red with their hope to find a new safe residence. This new diaspora was dif- ferent from the old one because they went to different countries, langua- ges, cultures, challenges, and bor- ders divided the Syrian community in the diaspora.
SYRIANS AMONG THE OLD AND NEW DIASPORA
We live in a world shaken by abrupt changes that affect individuals’ eco- nomic and social lives, and one of the most significant adverse effects is the state of displacement and emigration that some societies are subjected to in countries prone to crises.
Nevertheless, the paradox is that the- se issues have always been dealt with by international organizations such as the United Nations and organizations concerned with refugee affairs, trying to find emergency and temporary so- lutions, such as providing housing and the necessities of life. These solutions may address the issue of finding the essential ingredients for survival, but the underlying problem is not to track the lives of emigrants and manage the effects of post-trauma, which has created dispersed societies in seve- ral countries that are left to their fate.
As designers and change agents, we wanted to provide a comprehensive and dynamic framework to respond to this crisis and not deal as organi- zations did by solving the issue indi- vidually without direct reference to those affected. We took co-creation as the most comprehensive and con- sensual creative design approach to work on a solution with the assi- stance of the affected target group.
We aim to explore the emotional, cultural, social, economic, and envi-
ronmental diversities present in the past of emigrants lives and to reacti- vate and revive them through ‘’The Syrian of The Diaspora’’ project to fa- cilitate their lives and mental health and to move from the stage of survi- val only to the scene of building so- cietal and cultural ties between the newcomers and the host societies.
This project is characterized by the participation of stakeholders in the design and decision-making pro- cess that is the essence of crea- tive teamwork. Our goal as desi- gners is to break the frozen social capital state, invest in their exper- tise, and revive their creative spirit.
Because our project is also about su- stainability, our work with participan- ts has an impact on ensuring that we work in a sustainable framework, and through activism within a community, club, or institution, the environment can benefit from the social capital of these groups and generate a sustai- nable impact that helps both parties.
The goal is not to gather participants randomly but to develop the partici- pants’ sustainable thinking to achie- ve a social capital with the capacity and awareness for re-design and ge- neration.
INTRODUCTION
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As designers, we are Ahmad and George at a program dealing with change and sustainability. We found ourselves part of this scattered com- munity of ‘‘6.6 million emigrants wor- ldwide’’(UNHCR., 2021); we who emi- grated and faced many challenges in the diaspora are motivated to do a project that addresses these changes.
We took advantage of our experience to deal with this project’s challenges, obstacles, and goals for ourselves and our Syrian community by creating a social design project that uses facili- tation design methods and deals with sustainability with many social, cultu- ral spheres, economic, and ecological.
‘’The term ‘Social Design’ has diver- se meanings, but here it refers to the development of the social model of design, and a design process inten- ded to contribute to improving hu- man well-being and livelihood. Whi- le the primary purpose of design for the market is creating products to sale… the foremost intent of social design is the satisfaction of human needs… . Improvements in any of the environmental domains would gene- rate an improved satisfaction of hu- man needs.’’ (Fuad-Luke 2009, p152.)
As designers Ahmad and George, we have faced the same displacement issue with its challenges, so this was the starting point for figuring out the questions to build our project around.
What do people in the diaspora need?
This question spurred the design experiments and design inquiry and was the first question we asked our- selves when we wrote the project proposal, and we made a long list in our proposal’s research question.
We can summarize this list by saying that Syrians compulsory emigration has brought these individuals and families dozens of obstacles in their new countries, their new homes, and to start a new life one more time as an adult comes with various emo- tions that can make time stop lite- rally around these people. By time stop, we mean the trauma caused by displacement that results in thin- king of the past rather than taking actions in the present, which we be- lieve is a natural result in such cases.
CHALLENGES OF DESIGNERS IN THE DIASPORA
Gathering the Syrian participants to- gether created a social network and connections between the inside of the group and the outside society;
the project had two spheres, one as a co-creation between the designers and the participants, while the other was between the host society and our community. On the inside, the rela- tionships were based on trust and the encouragement of the participant’s shared interests, which establi- shes joint health and civic engage- ment with the outside host society.
The success of this process depends on the acceptance of the project outcomes, which we carried through workshops. At the same time, the par- ticipant merges in the host societies.
More explicitly, the cultural products which the participants made in a so- cial design project should be given a chance to be introduced to the insti- tutional system of the host country.
For instance, the storybook, to get published at schools and the com- munity space manifesto, they made, to be taken seriously by the munici- pality as a non-profit organization. As a result, social capital is an exchan- ge of social-cultural benefits grown by people’s real-life experiences.
We needed participants who believe in us and adopt our idea to co-cre- ate this project to create social ca- pital. In good faith, we, Ahmad and George, bet on finding participants from the Syrian diaspora because we believed they have the capabilities it takes to build a community throu- gh the talents of this social group and us as a designer, we joined each other to create a club, a social capital.
From Luke’s reading, we analyzed his use of the social capital term, which emerges in his book, and reflected on it concerning our project and his examples. He says:
‘’Bridging social capital is inclusive as it is outward looking and tries to join people from different social uni- ts or groups, e.g. the civil rights mo- vement. In contrast, bonding social capital is exclusive as it looks within the social unit or group to reinforce an identity, e.g. a church group, so- cial club, or urban gang. Not all social capital is therefore positive as some forms strengthen societies. Social ca- pital is represented by two important subsets – institutional capital and cul- tural capital – that have considerable influence on whether social capital is used to deliver positive growth or negative impacts on the whole or parts of societies.’’ – (Luke 2009, p. 7)
Social Capital Impact
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Therefore, the project was a station for creative work where the partici- pants re-think their thoughts together rather than alone to re-value the emp- tiness situation, where they dream of the past, so they transform the dama- ging trauma into a creative solution strengthening integration within host societies. To avoid the negative social capital impact, which is separating the group and the rest of the society.
The club’s purpose, which we aimed at creating, was not to serve the parti- cipants as an independent institution but rather to support their hobbies, skills, and talents to contribute to so- ciety as a whole, and it took shape in two groups which we organized and encouraged.
We prepared an invitation with pre- cise details mentioning who we are and our goal with a motivational text that clarifies part of the project to give them a feeling of trust and inform them well about their participatory role. They will participate in creative workshops instead of psychological meetings discussing personal beliefs.
Because for many Syrians and people in the same situation, changes would mean involvement in political and re- ligious topics, and Syrians are tired of these kinds of agendas. Therefore, in our plans, we excluded any topic re- lated to creating political, religious, ethnic, and national differences that they do not believe in and focus on empowering their creative future in the new home.
Therefore, the Syrian Jasmine flower in our invitation was a neutral and unifying symbol to symbolize our in- tent and message. Culturally, Jasmine represents beauty and strength as it grows in Syria without an outside in- fluence. Our message was for Syrians to be like Jasmine in the diaspora.
Below is a translated reference from Arabic:
‘‘Jasmine is an evergreen plant that is drought resistant, with a full seasonal bloom happening twice a year. It at-
tracts ants and butterflies, and some varieties even attract birds. [...] it va- ries in colors and is commonly white but can also be found yellow or blue.’’
- (Mahadin, Kamel O, 2006, P. )
The invitation envelope included three cards:
1- An invitation card in Arabic with a title (Syrians of The Diaspora) and a slogan (Together for a Bright Future) on one side, the other side had a let- ter. Here is what we invited people to:
Figure (1.1): Invitation Card
INVITING SYRIANS OF THE DIASPORA
TO OUR INITIATIVE
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Figure (1.2): Invitation Card Text
Here is what we invited people to (This is a translated text from the Ara- bic version):
The change that has occurred in our lives, we Syrians, has sometimes been more significant than our capa- bilities and has pushed us to feel fru- strated or hopeless, so this initiative carries with it many opportunities for you to find creative solutions, and we will present a collaborative design by you that meets your requirements.
The project is academically based on the concept of collective creation, as it depends on the participation of de- sign tools from the university to apply them to your community and practi- cal experience in the diaspora. The goal is to change the diaspora’s rea- lity and fill the various voids in which we live and convert them into positive energy to draw a future plan.
2- An instructions card in Arabic in- cluded how we would meet them and the meeting platform guidelines on one side, while on the other, we wrote our personal contact information and our university reference.
Figure (1.3): Meeting Instruction Card
Figure (1.4): Communication Card
3- A souvenir card in English had the tile and the Jasmine symbols with the backside of a postcard. We made it in English so they could send it to a new friend in the diaspora.
This card was special and invited its owner to send it to a new friend they made in their new countries so that its influence is to enhance mu- tual understanding between emi- grants and their new acquaintances.
Figure (1.5): Postcard Cover
Figure (1.6): Postcard Info Layout
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We carried a series of meetings which we prepared in advance. Before the first meeting, we had to familiarize pe- ople with the digital tools we will use because some of our participants have difficulty using modern technologies, and we had to help them learn how to read a QR code using their phones to access the Zoom meeting easily.
Also, we prepared ethical rules of en- gagement that clarified to the par- ticipant our data usage and asked to approve that, respecting any re- fusal or further review. As we ob- served, the meeting course de- tecting any misbehavior. However, they were all respectful, open-min- ded, and wise, avoiding any per- sonal conflicts during the meeting.
We introduced the theme of enlighten- ment, motivation and constructed a relationship within the group during the first meeting. Therefore, We be- gan the first meeting by introducing ourselves, and people introduced themselves, which was the first step in building a community. We had par- ticipants from two countries, Sweden and Germany, and four cities, Göteb- org, Växjö, Wiesbaden, and Rostock, with a diversity of ages from 21 to 61.
We, Ahmad and George, prepared a break the ice moment to encourage people to start a conversation with us and build a dialogue by asking them
about their opinion about this initia- tive. We wanted them to be feeling involved and comfortable. Also, we believed that visuals would substan- tially impact familiarizing our partici- pants with our concepts, so we pre- pared a 3 minutes video showcasing community building, change-ma- king, and co-creation examples con- trary to individual change-making.
INTRODUCING COLLECTIVE CRE- ATION AND ISSUES IN COMMON
Figure (1.7): Two screenshots taken from a short vi- deo exemplifying collective creation
When Cross in 1972 said that we need new approaches in design, that was a long time ago, but still not much has changed since the man-mad problems have kept escalating. The- refore, we stretched the participant
roles from the first meeting to feel that they belong and own the project.
“There is certainly a need for new approaches to design if we are to ar- rest the escalating problems of the man-made world and citizen partici- pation in decision making could pos- sibly provide a necessary reorienta- tion. Hence this conference theme of
‘user participation in design’.” (Cross, N, 1972, quoted in Elizabeth B.-N.
Sanders & Pieter Jan Stappers, 2008).
Furthermore, in our project case, the participants harmoniously took deci- sions making upon them. For instan- ce, when we asked them to contribu- te to preparing the future process, we presented the co-creation method to them, responding to their inquiries to design their answers—and building new cultural-design relationships between the participants and us.
“To really create a step change in the way people live we need to ra- dically rethink the way people work together; to encourage more sustai- nable possibilities in the everyday, will undoubtedly require pushing col- laborative practice beyond ‘interdi- sciplinarity’ to a new culture of ‘meta- designing”. (H. Jones, M. Tham, 2008).
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Then, we clarified the invitation let- ter’s content and exposed them to the hopelessness and frustration fe- elings to start a conversation about voids and emptiness in their lives in the diaspora. People had in them a positive perspective, they saw hope in our invitation, and that is why they joined us. We used their positi- ve perspectives and magnified the- se feelings to encourage them to re- design their diaspora’s emptiness to believe in the change aspect. For instance, we were surprised by their personal dedication to overcome their emptiness, as they mentioned some examples like sports, music, connecting to nature, reading, etc.
In this meeting, we built a conversa- tion between the participants to find common ground unifying everyone to create our project’s base besides col- lecting potential data that we could use to find suitable collaborators. The first meeting analysis was impressi- ve enough for a co-creative project.
Every person has an emptiness in a different amount, and some speak out that they live a tremendous amount of emptiness while others said they could find some harmony with them- selves, but not with their surroundin- gs, in their new reality, through indi- vidual and collective activities that were available to them. However, few
people said they had no emptiness at all, and they missed emptiness. Ne- vertheless, they agree to a social pro- blem and a new culture that is hard to integrate and sometimes work within.
Many talked about their love for na- ture and sports and its positive ener- gy to heal and empower, but unlike others who said that nature is not so and that they have no friendship with trees and feel better and hap- pier when they are with and around people, streets, markets, or cities.
Some expressed the absence of sta- bility from accommodation and work perspective, resulting in them thin- king of their memories when they had their jobs, business, and homes.
Meanwhile, some people expres- sed their lack of knowing what sta- bility is because they were born in a place and lived and worked in another and moved constantly.
Here we found that it was not easy for us to deal with various opinions while they based their answers on their ne- eds. The dialogue between opposites was great because those who expres- sed lacking stability were faced with those who did not know what sta- bility is; another example, partici- pants who found peace and medi- tation in the forests, met those who did not have any friends with nature.
EMPTINESS AS A COMMON GROUND AND A TOUCHPOINT
This diversity of opinions was our meeting strength because it ope- ned to the participants’ opportuni- ties for reconsideration and gave us the first role as designers to analyze their behaviors and needs.
No one has found satisfaction since they moved to their new home-lands.
They either surrender to emptiness or keep fighting distressingly. The- re is a feeling of disappointment in both perspectives. They try in dif- ferent ways, and they keep trying.
Moreover, they declared that they are social creatures and that no one can live healthy alone. Also, they showed comprehension of the new society culture and its difference to theirs.
They could make a comparison, but how would it help them? They sta- ted that there is a minimum amount of familiarity with the new host so- ciety and culture for people to exist continuously and sustainably here.
Their demands are simple, and they want more opportunities to meet and make friends with more people, as they feel isolated, and from their practical experience in the diaspo- ra, they know they need constructi- ve change evident in their life to be able to practice their old and new hobbies with more people. A need for people and activities through a plan!
They are experiencing social chan- ge since they moved to their new countries and what needs to be done is for social change to end immediately and begin fulfilling their needs to get satisfied with themselves and their new reality.
It can not be denied that people are shocked by Covid-19 and became more isolated to feel imprisoned at home for some. A person said, ‘’I studied the diaspora literature in my home-land, but I did not understand it then.’’ It is because some things are shared with much larger groups but experienced very differently.
Another said, ‘’we do not have a de- fect, but we are in a culture different from ours.’’ They emphasized their psychological well-being. Here, the participants reflected on this expe- rience by simplifying the academic language we used in our proposal, and this was essential because we managed to shape an image of their cultural and academic background.
The meeting ended by suggesting that the participants share some acti- vities on a private Facebook group some daily life activities in their free time. Our objective is for participants to stay connected to the project while preparing for the next meeting. Whi- ch in our debrief served to make the participants interested in the project.
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We, George and Ahmad, thought about creating a method for the parti- cipants to stay in touch and share our materials, ideas, thoughts, and pro- posals and keep the participants up to date between the meetings. There- fore, we created an open conference room using the Zoom platform beside a private social group on Facebook to give the participants the independent free sharing space. Also, we document all our project processes on a drive file shared with the participants. They happily accepted our suggestion.
We are looking at figure 2.1. This map to the right is a glimpse of a giant map that you can find complete later in the thesis. The map displays our work process and key highlights. However, in particular, this part draws attention to the Facebook group activity carri- ed from the beginning in parallel to the meeting activities.
ORGANIZING THE TEAM WORK AND COMMUNICATION
At the second meeting, we wanted to stimulate creativity inside the partici- pants to become their own agents to play a designer role in the project ra- ther than acting as a limited participant who only receives without generating.
The non-intentional designer’s stren- gth is in their ability to work in a part of a team where they challenge their community perspectives together in- stead of dealing with challenges in- dependently and with the assistance of the intentional designers, collabo- rators, and host society members.
The participants do activist work/
design to face challenges, and as a result, they create a diaspora sup- port community as design activists, which is our opinion as designers.
Figure (2.2): Active Zoom Meeting
‘’The implication is that design activism voices other possibilities than those that already exists with a view to eliciting societal change and transformation. While those who unknowingly apply design thinking, imagination or practice in the cause of design activism are important – the unknown, non-intentional desi- gners – it is those who knowingly use design, i.e. the design led activists.’’
(Fuad-Luke 2009, p. 27)
We believe that every participant can design, but they could need the support and orientation to generate design through themselves.
MOTIVATION, CHALLENGE PERSPEC- TIVES, AND WAYS OF THINKING
Figure (2.1-1): Process Map
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One of the common challenges that the participants face in their new lives in the diaspora was learning the host country’s language to communicate and integrate. Therefore, we found Clare Nilson as the first suitable col- laborator who could motivate the par- ticipants by sharing her curiosity and different perspective on integration, learning a new language, and com- municating with a new culture in a new environment where she moved to Morocco from Spain. Besides, her en- vironmental interest in growing orga- nic food on her farm in Spain. Claire is an example of a cultural melting pot.
Clare Nelson is an Architect located in Barcelona, Spain. Speaking five languages, and Arabic is one of them.
She has many inspiring experiences, and one of them was the creative crafting workshop with refugees that she started two years ago and growing organic food at her independent farm.
On our second meeting, Clare presen- ted herself by speaking Arabic, which attracted the participant’s attention using formal Arabic, and that made Claire’s narrative easy to understand and created a quick conversation whe- re she and the participants interact.
Clare has expressed her interests and employs her talents to start new so- cial projects, accompanied by adven-
tures. Claire described one of them during her visit to Morocco, whe- re people in Morocco did not speak standard Arabic, but colloquial, as she lived in the mountainous coun- tryside and natural areas and lived with a group of four Arab people who did not understand Claire, but when they cooked together and made bre- ad with flour, they communicated and felt each other. Communicate not only with language but with signs and emotions.
Interestingly, this encouraged the participants to speak more boldly about their experiences and abilities.
For instance, they were motivated to face the age issue and talk comfor- tably, ignoring the formal communi- cation language and other fears like avoiding the conversation because of lacking academic vocabulary, mo- dern familiarity with technology, or new emerging lifestyle notions. Tho collaboration experiences made el- derly participants more confident in contributing to the project as elderly participants. Also, you will find more results on this further in the text.
COLLABORATOR WITHIN A CULTURAL CONTEXT
We, as observers, wanted to invest in this outcome to design a workshop that would help the group for the future of the project. Furthermore, through a questionnaire on Facebo- ok that followed the end of the me- eting, the participants voted on the most important in Claire’s meeting to achieve a goal without giving up.
As designers, and based on this data, we put forward the idea of establi- shing a creative identity workshop that included answering some of the following questions:
1- A personal photo or a picture of yourself.
2- Personal name or any name you choose.
3- The talents that you possess. Any personal talents.
4- Practices that you are creative to do or have tried. That is, talents and skills learned and tested.
5- Talk about a creative project you have undertaken or an inspiring experience.
6- What skills can you share with others?
7- What skills are you looking to gain
from others?
8- Your color and signature? For example, my favorite color is blue, and my signature is a cup of coffee.
Figure (2.1-2): Process Map
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Building the creative identity of the participants was the result of the par- ticipants’ answers to our questions.
We chose the font during the making of the cards and its color based on their answers, characteristics, and mood, and we got strong cards in- fluenced by their owners’ context.
Our vision was to involve the par- ticipants deeply in the project by finding a suitable role for each person based on their hobbies, talents, and life experiences.
We analyzed the identity cards in clu- sters to match the participants’ inte- rests with a beneficial outcome, and it is important to say how humbled we were to work with these talented peo- ple. One of the common aspects was that the participants were more inte- rested in practical work than theore- tical because they wanted to improve their talents more in this project, solve their problems, and overcome them.
These creative cards are culturally in- terpreted through the fonts we used and images or symbols because the participants are material and imma- terial, surrounded by a new environ- ment and future.
‘‘A design culture located in commu- nication; something that is all around;
an attitude; a value; a desire to impro-
ve things; existing at the local level;
embedded in the working system, knowledge and relationships of desi- gners and design users as a form of agency, ‘encultured’ design, directed towards future global change and a generator of new value; as a means to herald changes in a wider wor- ld; a ubiquitous presence; study of the material and immaterial aspects of everyday life; articulated through images, words, forms and spaces and it engages discourse, actions, beliefs, structures and relationships; moti- vated by concepts of value, creation and practice.’’ - (Julier, 2008, P.36)
Syrians of the diaspora are indeed a cultural product that fits the above description, and they are full of life in a process within a context and practice.
They are agents, whether they knew or did not, with a substantial huma- nitarian value, and it symbolizes the importance of society as a whole.
SYRIANS OF THE DIASPORA
A CULTURAL PRODUCT
Figure (2.2): A List Of Creative Identity Cards26 27
The employment of immigrants is a challenge because of different work methods in the new country, and it gets more challenging for older pe- ople; and according to this fact, we invited Rim Ghaibour, who is a ma- sters student working on her thesis, to build a new career for immigran- ts with experience, to integrate with the working life of the host country.
Rim’s initial intent was to address this topic and clarify some of the problems as part of her research, and she was able to communicate from her practical experience with the employment agency the unfair- ness, the lack of respect for the emi- grant’s work experiences and skills.
Rim’s study within entrepreneurship and economic paradigms say that there is very little research on immi- grant economies. The employment agency deals with unemployed emi- grants from one perspective without analyzing the target group’s working life backgrounds, career, and skil- ls. Therefore, they end up putting the resources in the Improper place.
Later, this meeting with Rim uncovers with one of our clusters who expressed their desperation with having skills wi- thout certification. The employment office eventually categorized these people as people who lack competen- cies, wasting their time and life skills.
Rim benefited from meeting us with information to develop her thesis about entrepreneurship for immi- grants. She welcomed any partici- pant to contact her for a deep study.
COLLABORATOR WITHIN A WORKING LIFE CONTEXT
Figure (2.1-3): Process Map
28 29
The Syrians of the Diaspora project is an example of a series of co-crea- tive meetings, workshops, and colla- borators, plus the pre-knowledge we +Change designers have about cli- mate change and ecological collap- se. We conclude that a better future is only possible through the empower- ment of society members, especial- ly the most vulnerable, to play a role with other members of society who respond to a call from trusted facilita- tors without monetary motivation. In- stead, a cause that was as simple as we wrote to them in the invitation let- ter in our tagline, we said and claimed, TOGETHER FOR A BRIGHT FUTURE.
For institutions of power, it is to practice an improvement and invest- ment role in a new version of integra- tion that directly relates to the wor- king life of the newcomers. We can call it a model of work integration.
The future of entrepreneurship is so- cial and cultural, which means that a new range of stakeholders has to ap- pear from the public society, and emi- grants with proper orientation can contribute more to the creative pro- cess, whether it is vocational (econo- mical) or cultural (educational), both can lead to a sustainable new life and economic cycle. People are benefi- ciaries and givers to their society and country, like ecosystems.
‘’As the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ of the global economy have emerged, new visions and models of enterprise are attracting more attention in order to improve the positive effects of eco- nomic growth without disastrous negative consequences being felt by others.’’ (Fuad-Luke 2009, p. 71).
In this project, we treated emptiness and gave support to a forgotten group like the elderly emigrants who have the knowledge and strength to build a be- nefits system without concentration on monetary benefit but instead focus on their social and cultural capital to benefit the society in the host coun- try which can lead to an alternative economy from non-monetary system.
‘’ These include models with a new range of stakeholders focused on lo- cal needs and circumstances (e.g.
community interest companies); en- terprises with a focus on a disadvan- taged or under-represented group and/or those providing social/health services (e.g. social enterprises); and a diverse range of alternative eco- nomies from non-monetary systems (such as the Local Exchange Trading System (LETS), and the gift economy) to fairer trading schemes (e.g. Fair- trade) and to innovative ‘micro-cre- dit’ schemes for the world’s poor (such as the very successful Grame- en Bank).’’. (Fuad-Luke 2009, p. 71).
How social capital and collective work could solve entrepreneurship for emigrants?
Therefore, entrepreneurship thinking should not be limited to monetary pur- poses. For example, fair trade focuses more on benefits for the vulnerable sides who do not have a stake in this product but receive ethical payback as a statement for equity and equa- lity. ‘’These alternative models reco- gnize those left behind, those held in wage slavery and those not benefiting from the dominant capitalist econo- mic model.’’ (Fuad-Luke 2009, p. 71).
We have drawn on Luke and learnt from him while have tried to imple- ment what he is saying. The rela- tionship between our work and Luke is that Luke in his book stood as an activist in his book ‘‘Design Activism’’
proving that sustainability is not an obstacle rather a solution to design, entrepreneurship, and development.
Similarly, we transform the negative effect of displacement into a creative, positive cultural lifestyle.
In this way, we believed in the chan- ge and the constructive power of the social capital represented by the participant’s counter-narratives and their creative outcomes through the project.
Figure (2.1-4): Process Map
30 31
The agency we try to build with the Syrians of the Diaspora exam- ple is ambitious, and we wanted to give people opportunities in a group workshop format, where no one has to do something alone, and each should do what they love to do.
Sustainability links to social con- ditions and health within our parti- cipant’s social life, in the diaspora, where they experience a different knowledge and context of many new various cultural, societal, and eco- nomic aspects. We touched on the co-creation project all these aspects, and we believed that social work is no separate from environmental ap- pointment or economic outcomes.
Everyone has the right to practice a profession and have their share of ca- reers available in a country and a so- ciety. Whether people have the com- petencies it takes or not, they should be involved in a job position that su- its their lifelong career and skills.
We, Ahmad and George, believe that thinking outside the classical desi- gn field was necessary and effective to deal with two clusters working on two different fields, which deepened our research in economic and social fields. This is what made our experien- ce successful in bringing a new per- spective on design thinking activism.
At the end of the millennium, Ra- chel Cooper’s rhetorical question,
‘‘Is design in a philosophical crisis?’, seems apt and timely. Perhaps su- stainability offers the opportunity for designers to find its real voice. It appears that design activists may have to multi-task by focusing on sa- ving society, the environment and the future of design.’’ –(Cooper, R., 2002), quoted in Luke 2009, p. 50).
Establishing a working life is neces- sary for a person’s and society’s sati- sfaction. Even in a climate of climate change and ecological collapse, peo- ple must be directed and coordinated within new kinds of work and business where social entrepreneurship is com- bined with the environmental future.
Our participants receive the mini- mum amount of attention from aca- demia regarding their vast skills and knowledge. There must be some fun- ding for research in frozen social ca- pital. We came up with this term, and the term is holistic to all those people who are not given a chance to con- tribute to the new social life cycle, where the certificates bureaucracy and qualifications stand in front of integration and jobs opportunities to those who have skills and talents without a formal qualification. In this case, the municipality could support and give these people the chance to be self-sufficient.
Diagnosing Emerging Possibilities From I to We
To view this map in details visit our graduating exhibition ‘‘Screen II Scre- am Time’’ page on this link:
https://2021.designportfoliolnu.se/studentwork/syrians-of-the- diaspora-a-cultural-product/
Figure (2.1-5): Full Process Map
32 33
After a long series of meetings, and after we talked about emptiness, and met two collaborators, one in a cul- tural and linguistic context and the other in an economic and a working life one. After having created our par- ticipant’s creative identity, it was time to start harvesting some of what we have seeded together for three who- le weeks. It was not that simple, just like how money does not grow on tre- es. Our seeds need watering now and for much sunlight to grow, and just like in a farm, our participants need to organize themselves in suitable groups where they can collectively create a product of their decision.
Therefore, we looked at the crea- tive identity cards we created and decided to use design thinking pro- cesses to make clusters and logi- cal proposals for our participants.
‘’Human-centered design isn’t just talking to a lot of people, it’s about talking to the right people. These to- ols will make sure that your interviews really count. Before you start talking to the people you’re designing for, it’s important to have a strategy around who you talk to, what you ask them, and what pieces of information you need to gather.’’ (DesignKit., 2021).
Design thinking is a user-centric ap- proach to investigating the strength of the users and uncovers their ne-
eds so that they make creative ideas to participate in the designerly pro- cess to prototype solutions to deve- lop a sustainable thinking method.
We created our own recruitment sy- stem based on the participants’ crea- tive identity, and that is what we think was a tool to calculate the social capital value we have within the participants and set goals harmonious with their capabilities and past life experiences.
‘’By planning ahead, and tracking who you talk to once you’ve done it, you can be sure to have the right balan- ce of experts and laymen, women and men, people of different ethnicities and classes, as well as a full range of behaviors, beliefs, and perspectives.’’
(DesignKit., 2021).
After three meetings, we decided to create two clusters, one for children as a target group, where those who have skills in teaching, drawing, voluntary work, analytical and pedagogic skil- ls work together. Moreover, the other is for those who can make products, crafts, management, and manufactu- ring to make tangible, intangible, or anything they find interesting. Ideas generation in our co-creative project comes from people themselves.
Harvesting Change
Below is a skills analysis map which we made on our own to prepare for the workshops: Participant + (Skills Owned):
ANTOINE (HANDY QUALITY WORK) (TEXTILES) (PROJECT MANAGEMENT) (ACCOUNTING)
HALA (SIMPLIFY LEARNING) (WRITER) (CHILDREN & PLAY) (ANALYTICAL WORK) (TEACHER)
NATHALIE (DRAWING) (HAND CRAFTS) (CHILDREN & PLAY) (TEACHING) YARA (CRITICAL ANALYSIS) (ACTIVIST) (VOLUNTARY WORK) (ENGINEER) GEORGE (PEDAGOGIC WORK) (CHILDREN & PLAY) (SOCIAL WORK) (VO- LUNTARY WORK) (TEACHING)
CLAIRE (DRAWING) (MULTI-LINGUAL) (DESIGNER) (TEACHER) (ARCHI- TECT)
ELIAS (PLAYING PIANO) (ORGANIZING EXTERIOR ACTIVITIES) (REPAI- RING) (NURSE)
MARY (HAND CRAFTS) (COOKING) (CAMPING) (COOK)
Figure (3.1): Design Thinking Approach
34 35
Meta design also has a relation to the (I) to (We) approach and serves in thinking through (I, we, world) in conjunction with product, system, paradigm, and value of the tangi- ble and intangible, local and global.
In our work with the analysis of the creative identity cards, we focused on the other side of the participan- ts, which was their non-professio- nal side. For example, Yara is an en- gineer at a master’s level, but she is interested and has worked with voluntary works in her community and is passionate about feminism.
Another example, Nathalie is a de- sign student, but she is interested in children’s activities and drawing.
In comparison, Elias was a nurse but is talented with playing the pia- no, repairing, and outside activities.
Therefore, we did not concentrate on the participant’s professional job description; instead, of focusing on what they are passionate about as a common ground. Otherwise, we can not build a team from interdiscipli- nary practices rather a group sharing a mutual passion.
‘’In order to do so, they need to up- grade design to work at a higher level, i.e. as ‘metadesign’. Here, by ‘metade- sign’ we refer to processes that are still under development. In compari- son with traditional specialist design practices- or even with a more ‘stra- tegic design’ - metadesign is inten- ded to be more flexible, self-reflexive and comprehensive. This is not just a quantitative difference. Where de- sign characteristically prefigures a desired future state, its consensual (therefore non-hierarchical) nature means it must operate as an adap- tive ‘seeding process’ that establi- shes the conditions for unforeseen opportunities to emerge. Its main task is therefore to orchestrate many levels of synergy, so that human so- ciety causes less damage, while pro- liferating increasing levels of wisdom and fun.’’ (Fuad-Luke 2009, p. 219)
META DESIGN AT THE HEART OF THE PROCESS
‘’What is metadesign? System com- plexity is a background to the need for metadesign. Ideas for more antici- patory and comprehensive design ap- proaches have popped up in different places and under different names, including socially responsive design and transition design (Gamman and Thorpe,2006Irwin,2015). ‘Meta’ me- ans overarching, comprehensive and change. The initial conceptualisation of metadesign took inspiration from open source technologies to envisa- ge a design that could ‘seed’ instead
of create fixed content, adapt with emerging needs and which could decentralise design response throu- gh collaboration with end users and many other stakeholders (Giaccardi, 2005).’’ (Tham, Ståhl, Hylten-Caval- lius, 2019, p.27 ).
Figure (3.2): Symbiotic Relationships Diagram
Figure (3.3): Meta-Design Diagram
36 37
The environment and sustainabili- ty benefit from aware people more than the unlettered because when we elevate awareness among peo- ple about saving their surrounding environment, they will act respon- sibly rather than the ignorant who act without care. Those unlette- red could take unintentional har- mful actions that could avoid throu- gh further knowledge and thinking.
We, as designers, created a work- shop based on three main aspects:
awareness, education, and sustai- nability; then, we thought which cluster would be interested in wor- king from these grounds. Therefo- re, we proposed to the participan- ts this cluster, and they agreed that it fits their interests and passions.
Cluster members: Hala, Nathalie, Ge- orge, and Yara.
We set up the first meeting and in- troduced our aspects without further proposals for a final product, and now it was to them to discuss and brainstorm something to produce.
Their discussion went mainly around parents who speak a language at home other than the school. Be- cause children grow up and deve- lop with language as an essential method for comprehension and communication, the problem emer- ges in immigrant families where the school language is different from the family language, creating a gap between parents and their children.
Therefore, the cluster members thou- ght of the necessary tools to learn, and they mentioned songs, stories, games, and visuals. Then they reali- zed that these educational tools are available in the host country langua- ge but not in Arabic; these available tools in Arabic are old and do not suit our modern times and challenges.
Since Syria is a diverse country with different dialects and accents, and Arabic has a colloquial spoken version and a standard written and spoken version, it was essential to create the materials in a standard Arabic under- stood by everyone.
AWARENESS & EDUCATION WORKSHOP
CHILDREN AT THE CENTER BETWEEN THE SCHOOL
AND THE HOME LANGUAGE
During a text workshop session, one of our participants wrote a story about how differences affect chil- dren’s lifestyles, raising awareness about such an issue. Nevertheless, the story which one of our partici- pants wrote was regarding some re- ligious differences aspect and we Ahmad and George reviewed and analyzed the story we found that the religious matter is not related to the target children group age which we sat earlier in a previous meeting from 2 to 6 years old. Therefore, we propo- sed to keep differences but substitu- te religious issues with food habits.
We gave the participants time to di- gest and think about it, and we made a communication group to put their potential ideas or products. When we met the next session, the participan- ts agreed on one topic: the cultural differences between food and eating habits within the diversity of society.
The purpose was for our children to be aware of their surrounding differen- ces and accept and respect people who are different from their parents.
So, they do not feel there is a cultu- ral gap between school and home.
Based on this concept, the clu- ster members began to wri- te the story script together.
Food habits emerge as differences in the new host communities since the food habits of the emigrant homelands are traditional. For instance, it is rare to find shops that sell pork and ham in Syria or rare to hear that someone is vegetarian and vegan, almost im- possible in Syria, which confuses the emigrant’s families, at our times, to le- arn more about different food habits.
After choosing the right participants with the right background to hand- le the story writing for children, they suggested a topic covering differen- ces and how to transfer these facts to the children in an engaging narrative.
The story’s main topic is the dif- ferent food habits of the ve- gan, vegetarian, omnivores, and omnivores, with exceptions.
Visualizing the story cove- red various genders and eth- nicities to promote equality.
Also, the moral objective of the story was to raise chil- dren’s awareness to accept dif- ferences without discrimination.
