A major contribution to the field, this ground-breaking book explores design anthropology's focus on futures and future-making. Examining what design anthropology is and what it is becoming, the authors push the frontiers of the discipline and reveal both the challenges for and the potential of this rapidly growing transdisciplinary field.

Divided into four sections – Ethnographies of the Possible, Interventionist Speculation, Collaborative Formation of Issues, and Engaging Things – the book develops readers' understanding of the central theoretical and methodological aspects of future knowledge production in design anthropology. Bringing together renowned scholars such as George Marcus and Alison Clarke with young experimental design anthropologists from countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Brazil, the UK, and the United States, the sixteen chapters offer an unparalleled breadth of theoretical reflections and rich empirical case studies.

Written by those at the forefront of the field, Design Anthropological Futures is destined to become a defining text for this growing discipline. A unique resource for students, scholars, and practitioners in design anthropology, design, architecture, material culture studies, and related fields.

Rachel Charlotte Smith is Assistant Professor of Design Anthropology at Aarhus University, Denmark
Ton Otto is Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University, Denmark
Kasper Tang Vangkilde is Associate Professor of Business, Organization and Design Anthropology at Aarhus University, Denmark
Joachim Halse is Associate Professor of Design Anthropology at the CoDesign Research Center (CODE) at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark
Thomas Binder is Professor of Participatory Design and Director of the CoDesign Research Center (CODE) at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark
Mette Gislev Kjaersgaard is Associate Professor of Design Anthropology at the University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

1. Introduction: Design Anthropological Futures Rachel Charlotte Smith (Aarhus University, Denmark), Ton Otto (Aarhus University, Denmark), Kasper Tang Vangkilde (Aarhus University, Denmark), Joachim Halse (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark), Thomas Binder (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark) and Mette Gislev Kjaersgaard (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)
Part I: Ethnographies of the Possible
2. Scaffolding Futures: Emergence and Intervention in Design Anthropology Rachel Charlotte Smith (Aarhus University, Denmark) and Ton Otto (Aarhus University, Denmark)
3. The New Ethnographers: Design Activism 1968-1974 Alison Clarke, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
4. The Transformative Potential of Design Anthropology: Materials, Ecology and Temporality
Mike Anusas (University of Strathclyde, UK) and Rachel Joy Harkness (University of Aberdeen, UK)
5. Forms and Politics of Design Futures Ramia Mazé (Konstfak University College of Arts, Crafts and Design, Sweden and KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden)
Part II: Interventionist Speculations
6. Design Interventions as a Form of Inquiry Joachim Halse (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark)
7. The Forms and Norms of Ethnography Meshed Between Projects of Design and Socially Active Art George E. Marcus (University of California, Irvine, USA)
8. Interventions, Speculations and Correspondences between Design and Anthropology in the City: a
Carioca Experience Zoy Anastassakis (University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
9. Speculative Interventions as Inquiry Carl DiSalvo (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
Part III: Collaborative Formations of Issues
10. Para-ethnography 2.0: An Experiment with the Distribution of Perspective in Collaborative Fieldwork Kasper Tang Vangkilde (Aarhus University, Denmark) and Morten Hulvej Rod (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)
11. On the Fly, On the Wall: Eliciting Possibility from Corporate Impossibility Brendon Clark (Interactive Institute Stockholm, Sweden) and Melissa L. Caldwell (University of California, Santa Cruz, USA)
12. The Politics of Inviting to Designerly Public Engagement Åsa Ståhl (Umeå University, Sweden) and Kristina Lindström (Umeå University, Sweden)
13. The Sound of Household Futures Adam Drazin, Robert Knowles, Isabel Bredenbroeker, Anais Bloch, (University College London, UK)
Part IV: Things in the Making
14. Design Laboratories as Everyday Theatre: Encountering the Possible Thomas Binder (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark)
15. Things Making Things: An Ethnography of the Impossible Elisa Giaccardi (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands) Chris Speed (University of Edinburgh, UK) and Neil Rubens (University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan)
16. Experiments in Design Anthropology: Speculation, Accountability and Collaboration Sissel Olander (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark) and Tau Ulv Lenskjold (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Denmark)
17. The Speculative and the Mundane – Futures-making, Design Fiction and Anthropology Mette Kjærsgaard (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark) and Laurens Boer (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark)
18. Epilogue (tbc) Jamer Hunt (Parsons The New School for Design, USA)
Bibliography
Index