What DSI-ers are reading, watching, listening to NOW?
Here at MFA DSI we think Summer is a time to rest, reflect, and…read.
We recommend: Build a habit of reading, reflecting, and writing. We’ve curated a list of faculty and staff picks below (and in our DSI Library). These selections give you perspectives on social innovation and emerging themes. Don’t feel you have to read them all, just pick what strikes you. And if you haven’t tried journaling, blogging, or posting to social media, there’s no time like the present.
Reading List
We encourage you to support Black-owned bookstores!
MUST READ: The Intergalactic Design Guide Harnessing the Creative Potential of Social Design, Cheryl Heller (founder, MFA DSI)
Air Made Visible, Bruno Munari
Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Umoja Noble
The Art of Gathering, Priya Parker
Being Mortal, Atul Gawande
Beyond Inclusion, Beyond Empowerment, Letitia Nieto (2024 recommendation by faculty Marc Rettig)
Beyond Sticky Notes: Doing co-design for real, Kelly Ann McKercher
The Black Experience In Design, Anne H. Berry, Kareen Collie, Penina Acayo Laker, Lesley-Ann Noel, Jennifer Rittner, Kelly Walters
The Body Keeps The Score – Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD
Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine
Computer as Theatre, Brenda Laurel
Community: The Structure of Belonging, Peter Block (2024 recommendation by faculty Karen Proctor)
Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook, Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall
Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need, Sasha Costanza-Chock
Design Struggles: Intersecting Histories, Pedagogies, and Perspectives, Claudia Mareis & Nina Paim (eds)
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, adrienne maree brown
Ensouling Language, Stephen Buhner
Facilitating Participatory Decision-Making, Sam Kaner
Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Angela Y. Davis
Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation, adrienne maree brown
Minor Feelings, Cathy Park Hong
Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire
Rekindling Democracy: A professional’s guide to working in citizen space, Cormac Russell
Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, editor (2024 recommendation by faculty Mari Nakano)
They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein
Thinking in Systems, Donella Meadows
What it Means to be a Designer Today: Reflections, Questions, and Ideas from AIGA’s Eye on Design, Liz Stinson and Jarrett Fuller, editors (2024 recommendation by faculty Lee-Sean Huang)
Who Can Afford to be Critical: An inquiry into what we can’t do alone as designers and into what we might be able to do together, as people, Afonso Matos (2024 recommendation by faculty Lee-Sean Huang)
The Wild Edge of Sorrow, Francis Weller (2024 recommendation by faculty Marc Rettig)
The Works of Art, Adam Moss, ed (2024 recommendation by Kate Reed Petty)
You’re More Powerful than You Think: A Citizen’s Guide to Making Change Happen, Eric Liu
Articles/Resources
“How to Think Differently about Doing Good as a Creative Person”, Omayeli Arenyeka illustrated by Neta Bomani
“Theory as Liberatory Practice”, bell hooks
“Decentering the Designer”, Betsy Ramaccia
MeasureD website on use of M&E in design-led social impact interventions
Watching/Listening
Thirteenth, Ava DuVernay
White Like Me, Jeremy Young, Scott Morris, Sut Jhally, and Tim Wise
Social Experiments to Fight Poverty, Esther Defflo, TED Talk
Simple Hacks for Life with Parkinson’s, Mileha Soneji, TED Talk on human-centered design
Designing for Inclusivity, Liz Jackson
Eyes on the Prize, the definitive story of the civil rights era
Engage citizens, empower communities, enact stories, Dave Snowden, State of the Net (2024 recommendation by faculty Marc Rettig)
CoDesign and Power, from Social Design Sydney
The “Co-liberation conversations” series from the California Faculty Association.
Creating community in the street where you live
Participatory decision-making in multi-stakeholder situations
The Outside podcast, Tim Merry and Tuesday Ryan-Hart.
Digital Alchemy Podcast, hosted by Moya Bailey.
Radiolab, hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser
Sam Rye, blog documenting the evolution of social labs (2024 recommendation by faculty Marc Rettig)
