ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the problems and opportunities of design anthropology situations. The most profound problem with design anthropology is very basic, which is that having designs over field sites runs against anthropological methods per se, at least anthropology as it has been practised so far. The potential clash of rationalities in design anthropology means that one of the key outputs of the work is the preparedness of a company or design studio to change their own thinking. From the 1980s to the visible emergence of design anthropology in the 2000s, many developments shook up conceptions of anthropological thinking work. Design anthropology can be artistic and poetic. L. Suchman advocates a design anthropology which is ethnographic and which turns a critical eye on design rather than necessarily being ‘for’ design. There are many ways that design anthropologists rise to challenges and problems inherent in the work, ranging from scientific-empirical, to poetic, to presentational, to making, political activism, studio-based and frictional relocation.
