Pensando com bandeira e máscara, pedras e coisas extraordinárias: caminhos para encantar as teorias e práticas do design

Abstract

The research aims to investigate the life of things in cultural manifestations, seeking clues about enchantment through them. It proposes to explore what encounters between things and people can reveal about enchantment and how these interactions can provide insights to enchant a world burdened by the supposed universality of Western values and measures. Grounded in the understanding of things as parliaments capable of bringing together humans and non-humans, mortals and gods, in a Latourian sense, the thesis constructs assemblies with a mask and a flag from the folia de reis, the house they inhabit, and other objects encountered along the research journey, such as stones and extraordinary items. Throughout this process, the research strives to relate to things and access their multiple meanings, investigating aspects of so-called popular cultures, memory spaces, and the interplay between the sacred and the profane, with the aim of uncovering ways to enchant design and its practices.