Talks

Counter-engineering: Designing for Liberation

Keller Center, Princeton University, February 27, 2023.

Abstract:

With its grounding in the natural sciences and mathematics, engineering design is often promoted as a neutral practice of solving problems in the public interest. Nevertheless, engineering design as we know it emerged and developed alongside – and has long helped reproduce – relations of capitalism and empire, with all their attending forms of social domination and environmental destruction. Given this history, what then might be the role of engineering in contemporary movements for social and environmental justice? How might engineering be reconfigured to further the cause of liberation – rather than deepen relations of domination? 

Bridging work across design theory, architecture, engineering, and science and technology studies, the talk examines the possibilities of counter-engineering: the reconfiguration of engineering expertise and tools to challenge hegemonic power structures and strengthen movements for justice and equity. Using examples from ongoing collaborative research into the history, politics, and radical re-imaginings of Mexico City’s vast and deeply unequal urban flood control system, the talk will focus in particular on the difficulties of contesting – and redesigning – the large-scale and ubiquitous engineered infrastructures that shape contemporary life.

The full video of the talk and Q&A is below.

A Lake divided: Between Utopia and dystopia in MExico City

Mellon Forum on the Urban Environment, Princeton University, September 22, 2021.

Overview: A brief talk and conversation with Seth Denizen and Vera Candiani on the politics and possibilities of a “return” to the lake condition in the Valley of Mexico.

View full talk and discussion here.

On engineering and social justice

Talk presented to an audience of primarily black engineering students at a fundraiser for EnergieRich, whose co-founder invited me to speak.

Excerpt: We are here today to talk about how to make the world a better place with engineering. So let us ask ourselves: how does an engineer do "good" in the world? It is one I get frequently, and to which I have never bothered to write down a set of coherent thoughts. These are some rough reflections. If I offer more questions than answers, it is because engineers have for far too long peddled answers without questions....

Read the rest of prepared transcript here, or listen to the full talk (which is longer) above.

(Note: This transcript omits the beginning of my talk as it was delivered, in which I provided an overview of my work in Mexico City - which was essentially the same as the talk below "How to Engineer a Water Crisis." This was given as an example for the students.)

Unintended consequences

Talk delivered to Stanford's Hard Earth seminar series on sustainability in 2016. In the talk, I elaborate on how engineers’ supposed sustainability solutions can unintentionally worsen the problems the engineers are trying to solve through the case of Mexico City. My talk starts around 12 minutes in. 

 

How to Engineer a Water Crisis

Talk delivered to Stanford Alumni in Palo Alto, CA in 2016. In the talk, I provide a short historical narrative describing how early solutions to Mexico City’s water crisis diffused, rather than completely solved, the problem over time.

 

TEDxUofW: The False Hope of Technology

Talk delivered to TEDx audience at the University of Washington in May 2014. In the talk, I aimed to sum up many of the discussions from our Engineering for Social Justice seminar for a public audience.

 

Grass Without Roots:

Funding and Accountability in Nicaraguan Civil Society

Lecture presented at Spring 2010 Department of Global Health graduate colloquium on Accountability, Transparency, and Corruption in Global Health at the University of Washington in Seattle. 

Presentation for University of Washington Global Health MPH Seminar: Accountability, Transparency & Corruption in Global Health, 4/30/10 Speaker: Dean Chahim, University of Washington Abstract: How does dependence on foreign funding affect the ability of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to be downwardly accountable catalysts for social change? Drawing on interviews with stakeholders in a wide range of NGOs in Nicaragua, this study shows that dependence on foreign funding strains the ties of NGOs to constituencies and pushes them from long-term advocacy and organizing towards short-term service and ephemeral mobilization. The result is a disproportionately influential, yet uprooted, NGO sector which leaves little room for traditional grassroots membership organizations and necessitates a rethinking of current funding models and the roles of foreign-funded NGOs in building civil society. This is the product of about two months of field research in Nicaragua, originally done for the aid efficacy organization Beyond Good Intentions ( www.beyondgoodintentions.com ). NOTE: The slides can be viewed more clearly here: http://www.slideshare.net/UWGlobalHealth/grass-without-roots. The video's audio and slides are a bit out of sync - the slides are usually about one step ahead of the audio. The seminar series can be accessed here: http://depts.washington.edu/deptgh/courses/mph_seminars.php

(Thanks to Stephen Bezruchka for both the invitation and the audio recording.)

From Good Intentions to Praxis:

Learning from the Successes and Failures of the Critical Development Forum

Talk presented at 2013 Engineering, Social Justice, and Peace conference in Troy, NY

Abstract

Many have called into question the efficacy and ethics of sending Western students abroad to “help” in the global South. Critics lament that students often arrive with little understanding of the broader context of the problems they work on, leading to poor results if not outright harm. Yet as students fly abroad to “solve” the problems of the global South, fewer critics have addressed the elephant in the room: how can we encourage students, particularly engineers, to work more on global injustices at their roots here at home?

Walking the path towards this kind of deep solidarity is arduous alone: it requires critical reflection on one’s own privilege and positionality in a profoundly unequal world. For engineers, it also requires leaping out of our narrow technical disciplines. Yet one way forward is through the creation of communities of praxis, horizontal student networks, and interdisciplinary education rooted in critical pedagogy. In this workshop, we will all contribute ideas around the guiding question: how do we encourage the critical self-reflection needed to create communities of praxis out of communities of good intentions?

To frame the discussion, I will share the successes and failures of the Critical Development Forum (students.washington.edu/cdfuw), a student-driven organization founded by three disillusioned Engineers Without Borders members. Our goal was to channel the good intentions of the University of Washington campus away from paternalistic and often unethical voluntourism and towards a commitment to solidarity that starts at home.

For two years, we developed a community of praxis through teach-ins, discussion groups, and an innovative student-designed seminar (cdfseminar.tumblr.com). The response of students and faculty was overwhelmingly positive, especially among engineers rarely exposed to critical thinking about the context of their work. While we ultimately were unable to institutionalize ourselves to sustain the momentum of the organization, we hope that by sharing our story and lessons learned we might find new inspiration and inspire others to build on our model in their distinct communities.

Read the full transcript of the talk here.