Designing Worlds National Design Histories in an Age of Globalization [Hardcover]

From consumer products to architecture to advertising to digital technology, design is an undeniably global phenomenon. Yet despite their professed transnational perspective, historical studies of design have all too often succumbed to a bias toward Western, industrialized nations. This diverse but rigorously curated collection recalibrates our understanding of design history, reassessing regional and national cultures while situating them within an international context. Here, contributors from five continents offer nuanced studies that range from South Africa to the Czech Republic, all the while sensitive to the complexities of local variation and the role of nation-states in identity construction.

List of Illustrations

Introduction:National Design Histories in an Age of Globalization
Grace-Lees-Maffei and Kjetil Fallan

Chapter 1.Designs on/in Africa
Dipti Bhagat

Chapter 2.Does Southern African Design History Exist?
Deirdre Pretorius

Chapter 3.Designing The South African Nation: From Nature To Culture
Jacques Lange and Jeanne van Eeden

Chapter 4.Resisting Global Homogeneity but Craving Global Markets: Kiwiana and Contemporary Design Practice in New Zealand
Claudia Bell

Chapter 5.Creativity within a Geographical-NlS°