Thesis
Poaching in Southern Africa: Identifying leverage points for effective intervention
Abstract
Poaching and wildlife trafficking is an urgent ecological threat, with human causes and human victims. In response, emerging technologies have begun to enter this domain, with varying degrees of success. This compels those of us in technology design roles to consider how technology may be more appropriately applied to this context, with awareness of the systemic complexities that affect the relationships between individual actors, communities, organizations, and environmental conditions that make up the socio-political fabric of the design situation. In this, and other so-called “Wicked Problems” [Rittel & Webber, 1973, p.156], there is a need to employ creative thinkers, and engage a diversity of perspectives. The objective of this thesis is twofold: Firstly, to identify underlying causes and factors of poaching, and ‘leverage points’ by which design may affect positive change, and secondly, to examine the emerging role of the designer-researcher and the value of independent design fieldwork.
Download the full thesis publication.
Committee
- Axel Roesler, Chair (Interaction Design)
- Audrey Desjardins (Interaction Design)
Bio
Jeremy Barribeau is a multidisciplinary designer with a background in industrial design and user-experience design. He is originally from South Africa and grew up in New Zealand, where, in 2011, he received his Bachelor of Design (Industrial Design) from Victoria University, Wellington. Jeremy started his career as a highly entrepreneurial high school drop-out, and since then has travelled the globe, working for startups, consultancies, governments and multinational corporations. His work ranges from conceptual to commercial. He has authored numerous patents and defensive publications, and a number of his projects have received Red Dot and iF awards. Upon graduating, Jeremy plans to continue his work with the UW Bioengineering Department and Center for Dialysis Innovation.
Exhibitions
- Jacob Lawrence Gallery, MDes Works in Progress, Installation, (December, 2019)
Awards
- Presented at the International Design Conference (IDC), Chicago, IL (August, 2019). “Post Utility Industrial Design: Refocusing for Resiliency.”
- Microsoft Design Expo Competition Finalist (Team project), Redmond, WA (July, 2019).
- Frank L. and Catherine D. Doleshy Endowed Fellowship (2019)
- University of Washington Top Scholar Award (2018)
Education
- Master of Design, University of Washington, 2020
- Bachelor of Design, Industrial Design, Victoria University of Wellington, 2011
Commentary
Read the full commentary about Jeremy Barribeau by Heidi Biggs.
Ultimately, Jeremy frames his contribution as two-fold: one being points of leverage for potential intervention, the other being the troubling design methodologies that seek to productize solutions to systemic, historic, and culturally constructed problems. Design scholars such as Elizabeth Chin critiqued the latent coloniality of designs like The Life Straw (1), where a western designer will visit a country where people don’t have access to clean water and design them a straw to extract clean water from dirty sources, pat themselves on the back and walk away pleased, not examining the history of colonialism and western interventions that crippled that country in the first place. In his process, Jeremy bumped against the ironies of conservation, where illegal poaching, while destructive, is also part of a legacy of “intervention” and disruption. Instead of driving toward a solution, Jeremy took pause and took stock, offering avenues for intervention without jumping into something that looked like “progress” or “innovation.” This project left him wondering whom design serves and whether it is equipped to deal with complex, “wicked” problems — or if design must also expand its methods and sensitivities to deal with intricate and systemic problems.
– Heidi Biggs