How can a product design intervention improve the lives of victims of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo on an individual, community and/or national level?
By focusing on three avenues I plan to dissect, digest and suggest. These three avenues are: political/resource driving the current conflict conflict, the aftermath of a victim being raped in relation to community response, and preventative measures against sexual assault and rape.
That's it for now,
Christine Sheu
Hi Christine,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very ambitious and important topic for thesis. It also may be a very difficult area to make an impact via product design. It's hard to imagine how a product designer in the US can affect things in very unfamiliar locales, especially when you are dealing with intractable problems that have not responded to traditional methods for protecting human rights. the people who are perpetrating these crimes are probably not very responsive to persuasion by third parties such as yourself, and the victims are probably not buying a lot of products, even if it could save their lives or their honor, because they may have other needs, such as food, clothing, shelter, medicine, etc. that they may direct their (minimal) resources toward.
I am not trying to discourage you, but I want you to be sure that this topic is the right one for your capstone. Do you believe that you will be able to empathize adequately either with the soldiers carrying out these atrocities, or the women who are the victims? You may have an angle on how to go about this that you are not revealing yet. Let's meet in class next week to discuss. Please be prepared to defend your positions with facts and a solid plan for moving forward. G
steven