Abstract
Design scholars are advocating for building a deeper and more nuanced power literacy when applying participatory approaches in mental healthcare. Although actionable frameworks have been developed to identify risks, these approaches rely heavily on designers’ analytical skills and do not offer ways to understand power through multiple scales that simultaneously influence individuals and populations. If this concern is not addressed, designers might inadvertently reproduce harmful power structures. Therefore, this paper builds a Foucaultian lens of disciplinary and bio-power to reflexively analyze design fieldwork dilemmas in mental healthcare contexts from France and Estonia. It contributes to deepening designers’ power literacy by crafting a more systemic theoretical framework on power through five mechanisms, and exemplifying how designers might embody power through two instruments: objectification and normalization. Consequently, this paper reminds designers of their entanglement within the power web and informs intentional ways of rethinking design fieldwork methods by addressing the active mechanisms of power.
Keywords
mental healthcare; Foucault; power; reflexivity; fieldwork; participatory approaches
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2025.16
Citation
Kubinyi, E.L.,and Sintic, J.(2025) Exploring design fieldwork dilemmas in mental healthcare through Foucaultian mechanisms of power, in Brandt, E., Markussen, T., Berglund, E., Julier, G., Linde, P. (eds.), Nordes 2025: Relational Design, 6-8 August, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/nordes.2025.16
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Exploring design fieldwork dilemmas in mental healthcare through Foucaultian mechanisms of power
Design scholars are advocating for building a deeper and more nuanced power literacy when applying participatory approaches in mental healthcare. Although actionable frameworks have been developed to identify risks, these approaches rely heavily on designers’ analytical skills and do not offer ways to understand power through multiple scales that simultaneously influence individuals and populations. If this concern is not addressed, designers might inadvertently reproduce harmful power structures. Therefore, this paper builds a Foucaultian lens of disciplinary and bio-power to reflexively analyze design fieldwork dilemmas in mental healthcare contexts from France and Estonia. It contributes to deepening designers’ power literacy by crafting a more systemic theoretical framework on power through five mechanisms, and exemplifying how designers might embody power through two instruments: objectification and normalization. Consequently, this paper reminds designers of their entanglement within the power web and informs intentional ways of rethinking design fieldwork methods by addressing the active mechanisms of power.