Virtual Event: Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall

Harvard Book Store welcomes ELIZABETH (DORI) TUNSTALL—Dean of Design at Ontario College of Art and Design University—for a discussion of her new book Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook.

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About Decolonizing Design

From the excesses of world expositions to myths of better living through technology, modernist design, in its European-based guises, has excluded and oppressed the very people whose lands and lives it reshaped. Decolonizing Design first asks how modernist design has encompassed and advanced the harmful project of colonization—then shows how design might address these harms by recentering its theory and practice in global Indigenous cultures and histories.

A leading figure in the movement to decolonize design, Dori Tunstall uses hard-hitting real-life examples and case studies drawn from over fifteen years of working to transform institutions to better reflect the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black, and People of Color communities. Her book is at once enlightening, inspiring, and practical, interweaving her lived experiences with extensive research to show what decolonizing design means, how it heals, and how to practice it in our institutions today.

For leaders and practitioners in design institutions and communities, Tunstall’s work demonstrates how we can transform the way we imagine and remake the world, replacing pain and repression with equity, inclusion, and diversity—in short, she shows us how to realize the infinite possibilities that decolonized design represents.

Praise for Decolonizing Design

“Dori Tunstall is a trailblazer! Her book serves as a critical addition to the canon of design, exposing the lies and misinterpretations often hidden within modernist pedagogies.” —Kevin Bethune, author of Reimagining Design

“A once-in-a-decade book. An inspiring, informative, and powerful blueprint that can enable any of us to engage with a topic of our time—decolonization.” —Rama Gheerawo, author of Creative Leadership: Born from Design

“Finally, a comprehensive, substantive, and practical book to inform decision-makers. I’ll be referencing it regularly with both students and administrators.” —Mindy Magyar (Mi’kmaw descent), Associate Professor, College of Art and Design, Faculty Associate, Office of the Provost, Rochester Institute of Technology