This is day 3 of our special week-long series on The Grove, an immersive experience on designing for meaningful change.
The "knowing and doing" paradigm
Yesterday, we talked about the importance of unpacking oppression and tracing its root causes and systemic effects.
In the past decade of doing this work, I often get resistance from design practitioners when we start to dive into oppressive system. They say they already "know" this and ask me what they need to "do" to design for _____ (equity, inclusion, accessibility, care, etc).
And well, I can't blame them. Living under oppressive systems conditions us to operate in ways that reward efficiency and productivity. It's all about "knowing" enough to get to the "doing" as quickly as possible.
But I've worked long enough in the social justice space (and in learning design) to understand that this way of operating doesn't work.
We don't "learn" oppression — and how to dismantle it — in bite-sized chunks, in short 1-2 minute videos, or in 2-hour workshops. We can't transform hundred of years' worth of inequity, exclusion, and power asymmetries with a stack of tools, playbooks, and guides.
This "knowing and doing" paradigm actually keeps us rooted in the status quo.
The work really starts once you unlearn the conditioning of oppressive systems — the ones that have taught you what is "normal" or the "default."
The journey of unlearning
Unlearning this conditioning can take a lifetime. It's something I personally work on every single day. But it's not about knowing and doing.
It's about embodiment. It's about resistance and radical imagination. And it's about connectedness — to yourself and to the living beings around you. To the ancestors who came before you. To the future generations who will come after you.
I've designed The Grove to support you with this.
This is a space where you can slow down to engage with immersive storytelling, embark on critical reflection, and begin unlearning.
The scope of the experience
- You'll zoom in and zoom out into the interconnectedness of oppressive systems
- You'll thoughtfully prepare to design for change with open-ended frameworks that flex to your readiness and context (use them as-is or adapt them!).
- You'll start detaching from oppressive norms and embodying liberatory practice with guided reflections, somatic exercises, supportive tools, and reflective dialogues.
The 6 different cycles of the experience will be released to you at a slow but steady pace to give you ample time and space to engage with the material.
You'll also be invited into community dialogues each season for deep discussion with values-aligned peers and a trusted guide (yours truly).
For now, I invite you to start reflecting on: What's one thing from capitalist conditioning that you want to unlearn?
Next time, we'll explore the design changemaking foundations around which The Grove is built. You may have already discovered them already our Portal.
