Beyond Culture: Design Anthropology as a Tool of Social Design and Conflict-Resolution

Abstract

Design Anthropology [DA] has gained significant prominence in recent years, along with increasing adoption of Design Thinking [DT] strategies, new human-centric approaches, and focused attention on the emotional and functional needs of the users. Both DA and DT have emerged during the last few decades as a result of a broader shift away from the profit-centered business models towards the development of value-driven paradigms that are placing the consumers at the center of research and production. This is a meaningful transformation that reflects the recognition of an urgent need for higher global sustainability and a new economy. The process of personalization, which is based on extensive study of consumers’ real needs rather continuous development of products, is the best strategic move to achieve these new global goals and set new social and individual values. Thus, business success in the contemporary world should aspire to merge values of sustainability with a good study of individual needs and lifestyle. DT is not a new way of business thinking and it has existed for decades. Yet, many of its advantages are still unknown, misunderstood, or are being used inefficiently due to lack of knowledge, strategic insights, and proper practices and experience. DT utilizes anthropological methods that provide the best strategies required to unfold hidden needs, heal pain points, and discover core cultural values. Anthropological tools include detailed observations of behavior and various activities, personal interviews, and immersion in the daily lives of individuals and communities studied in order to study their perspective and gain empathy and understanding as an insider. The project presented hereby demonstrates the uses and the professional advantages gained by using DT methods in finding new and creative pathways to complicated solutions in a case study that required the development of a healthcare app for the ASHA workers in India. The ASHA are healthcare activists who became a vital and crucial support system to many families in rural India, especially during the Covid19 pandemic. However, the low social caste to which they belong proved to be as big a challenge to face as the pandemic itself, and DT strategies combined with methodologies of anthropology supported the completion of the project on time with the best outcome possible.