How can we simultaneously study and actively promote the impact of research on society? Within development research, anthropologists have participated in processes of change for many years. Today we are also engaged in design processes, particularly in business and the museum world, and more than ever this engagement requires that we see our research practice as both intervention and representation. This implies a fundamental rethinking of anthropological theories and methods.

Design and development processes use ethnographic methods for obtaining information about potential users and uses, but also in the development of the interaction between different actors, anthropological methodology has proved effectful. Cooperation with the Moesgaard Museum offers unique opportunities for experimentation with visual media, installation, light and atmosphere. Moreover, studies of the relationship between form, feeling and effect are relevant to textual dissemination, which still constitutes a core element in our discipline.

The Section is host within this theme to the M.A. degree ’Design and Innovation.’

See Current research projects here