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From empowerment to emancipation : an exploration of design citizenship through design activism in South Africa
PhD Thesis
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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University of Pretoria
2026
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| _version_ | 1867613576731033600 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Van Eeden, Jeanne |
| author_browse | Van Eeden, Jeanne |
| author_facet | Van Eeden, Jeanne |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. |
| description | PhD Thesis |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/107426 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:38:21.029Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | University of Pretoria |
| publisherStr | University of Pretoria |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/107426 From empowerment to emancipation : an exploration of design citizenship through design activism in South Africa Van Eeden, Jeanne jeanne@gmail.com M'Rithaa, Mugendi K. Cassim, Fatima UCTD Design activism Critical citizenship Design citizenship Design thinking Constructivist grounded theory Design interventions Design for the common good Social innovation Disruptive aesthetics Play Aesthetic education Design research PhD Thesis Owing to the ubiquity of design in contemporary culture, there is a!proliferation!of!new!roles!for! design!especially!within!the!context!of!design!for!the!common!good;!one!such!example!includes! design!activism,!which!aims!to!instil!and!enable social,!environmental!and!political!agency!among! citizens.!However,!unlike!design!activism,!design!citizenship!is!a!new!concept!that!lacks!a!concrete! theoretical!framework.!Accordingly,!this!thesis!uses!a!constructivist!grounded!theory!methodology! to!present!a!substantive!theory!of!design!citizenship by!exploring!the!relationship!between!design! activism!and!citizenship in!South!Africa.!For!data!generation!purposes,!the!fieldwork!comprised!an! analysis!of!design!interventions!that!addressed!pertinent!social!issues!faced!by!citizens!in!two!cities,! namely Pretoria!and!Cape!Town.!To!this!end,!openHended!interviews!were!held!with!the!research! participants,!who!included!participants,!facilitators!and!sponsors!(corporate!and!nonHcorporate)!of!a! sample!of!design!interventions.!The!empirical!evidence!generated!through!the!grounded!theory! process!points!towards!a!YHshaped!model!of!design!citizenship!that!situates!the!social!phenomenon! of!design!citizenship!at!the!intersection!of!design!activism!and!critical!citizenship,!and!thereby! suggests!the!causal!relationship between!the!two.!The!model!comprises!three!overarching! processes, namely awakening awareness, igniting agency and sustaining a design thinking impetus. The disruptive and transformative!nature!of!design!citizenship,!facilitated!by!these!three!processes! over a sustained!period!of!time, suggests that design provides!common!ground for citizens which in turn affords them with an opportunity to move from being merely empowered to being emancipated Visual Arts PhD (Information Design) Unrestricted Faculty of Humanities SDG-04: Quality Education SDG-03: Good health and well-being SDG-11: Sustainable cities and communities 2026-01-20T08:49:51Z 2026-01-20T08:49:51Z 2019-02-09 2019-02-21 Thesis * A2019 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/107426 N/A en © 2024 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria |
| spellingShingle | UCTD Design activism Critical citizenship Design citizenship Design thinking Constructivist grounded theory Design interventions Design for the common good Social innovation Disruptive aesthetics Play Aesthetic education Design research From empowerment to emancipation : an exploration of design citizenship through design activism in South Africa |
| title | From empowerment to emancipation : an exploration of design citizenship through design activism in South Africa |
| title_full | From empowerment to emancipation : an exploration of design citizenship through design activism in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | From empowerment to emancipation : an exploration of design citizenship through design activism in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | From empowerment to emancipation : an exploration of design citizenship through design activism in South Africa |
| title_short | From empowerment to emancipation : an exploration of design citizenship through design activism in South Africa |
| title_sort | from empowerment to emancipation an exploration of design citizenship through design activism in south africa |
| topic | UCTD Design activism Critical citizenship Design citizenship Design thinking Constructivist grounded theory Design interventions Design for the common good Social innovation Disruptive aesthetics Play Aesthetic education Design research |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/107426 |