ABSTRACT
The histories of humanitarianism are not only the histories of national and international organizations, aid workers, and politicians who eagerly argue for protecting a universal idea of humanity. Designing has always been part of humanitarian endeavors, but it is only in recent decades that the design community has been proactive in claiming a relevance in humanitarian work and has pushed its skill and knowledge of problem-solving as the necessary qualities missing from the work of humanitarianism. This chapter looks at how design imaginaries of addressing the world and its complexities as problems to be solved by design’s capacity overlap with humanitarian imaginaries of specific places and times in need of creative interventions, emergency help, temporary solutions, and aid. It discusses the humanitarian imaginary of design as a white social imaginary where a racial order is reinforced: a creative white middle class who at worst designs for and at best designs with the nonwhite poor in need of creativity.
