Dr Angelika Strohmayer is an interdisciplinary technology researcher and lecturer at Northumbria University’s School of Design and founding member of the fempower.tech collective. Inspired by Feminist Participatory Action research and Research through Design, she works collaboratively on in-the-world projects, engaging people at all stages of the research process to craft more just worlds.
“This book is an excellent offering that highlights ways in which visual approaches to research and community work can serve as a canvas for the outpouring of oppression, anger, hope, resilience and reimagining of a socially just future. It is a great gift and valuable resource for academics, activists and students interested in social justice, participatory action research, and digital technologies.”
—Puleng Segalo, Professor, University of South Africa, South Africa
“This expansive undertaking exhibits Strohmayer’s force as a thinker, author, and partner in design. She shows us how worlds of textiles partake in the making of collective futures—nurturing forms of connection as a means of creative expression, self-determination, and remembrance.”
—Daniela Rosner, Associate Professor, University of Washington, USA
“This book is about the making of artistic hope to re-think practices as justice-oriented, connected and collaborative mechanisms for our futures. It is about what is possible, once we see the beauty of equity instead of privileges in design.”
—Özge Subaşı, Assistant Professor, Koç University, Turkey
This book weaves together disparate worlds of crafting, social justice, and digital technologies around The Partnership Quilt. It crafts a manifesto for meaningful action and design processes in charitable organizations through participatory sewing and its digital augmentation. The book charts a history of how sewing has been used to voice concerns of oppression, and how digital technologies can be embedded into textiles to tell stories more powerfully. It explores the relationship between quilting and research, looking beyond the seams of The Partnership Quilt to shed light on the importance of invisible work behind such participatory, justice-oriented design projects. It concludes with a discussion of the impacts and potential future avenues for research on digitally quilting social justice.
Dr Angelika Strohmayer is an interdisciplinary technology researcher and lecturer at Northumbria University’s School of Design and founding member of the fempower.tech collective. Inspired by Feminist Participatory Action research and Research through Design, she works collaboratively on in-the-world projects, engaging people at all stages of the research process to craft more just worlds.