Value-Sensitive Design for Indigenous People of Oaxaca, Mexico

Value-Sensitive Design for Indigenous People of Oaxaca, Mexico

D.E. Santos-Reyes A.J. Mendoza-Jasso 

I’chi Research and Engineering, Mexico

Industrial Engineering Department, Mixteca University of Technology (UTM), Mexico

Page: 
41-47
|
DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.2495/DNE-V11-N1-41-47
Received: 
N/A
| |
Accepted: 
N/A
| | Citation

OPEN ACCESS

Abstract: 

This paper describes an ongoing research and development project on engineering value-sensitive design for indigenous people called Mixtecs, and for wider segments of the system of focus, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Although the Mixtec people have creatively maintained their fundamental way of doing things from the pre-Hispanic past to the present day, they are being influenced by a new wave of conflicting factors. These factors, namely economical, technological, environmental and global issues, threaten the survival of the Mixtecs’ approach. In addition to these issues, the fast growing rate of crime also impedes growth. A crucial way to understand the current Mixtecan situation is to use complex systems thinking to address the core issues that inhibit growth and subsequently to implement action. It is believed here that there are essential issues of value and these have implications for engineering design. Engineering value-sensitive design may have important implications in addressing the Mixtec people’s situation without compromising their values, culture and traditions.

Keywords: 

innovation, design, sustainability, crime, value.

  References

[1] Santos-Reyes, D.E. & Santos-Reyes, J.R., Patterns of temporal diffusion of crime in  Mexico. International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering, 2(2012), pp. 54–68, 2012. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2495/safe-v2-n1-54-68

[2] Beer, S., Brain of the Firm, John Wiley & Sons: Chichester, 1995.

[3] Rouse, W.B., Health care as a complex adaptive system: implications for design and management. The Bridge, 38(1), pp. 17–25, 2008.

[4] Schumpeter, J.A., Business Cycles: A Theoretical, Historical, and Statistical Analysis of the Capitalist Processes, Macmillan: New York, 1939. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1522/030021081 [5] Winner, L., Do artefacts have politics? Daedalus, 109(1), pp. 121–136, 1980.

[6] Porter, M.E. & van der Linde, C., Green and competitive: ending the stalemate. Harvard  Business Review, September–October, pp. 120–134, 1995.

[7] Hart, S.L., Beyond greening: strategies for a sustainable world. Harvard Business Review, January–February, pp. 66–76, 1997.

[8] Pehnt, M., Dynamic life cycle assessment (LCA) of renewable energy technologies.  Renewable Energy, 31, pp. 55–71, 2006. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2005.03.002

[9] Owen, R., Bessant, J. & Heingtz, M. (eds), Responsible Innovation: Managing the Responsible Emergence of Science and Innovation in Society, Wiley: Chichester, UK, 2013.

[10] Manders-Huits, N., What value in design? The challenge of incorporating moral values into design. Science and Engineering Ethics, 17, pp. 271–287, 2011. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/ s11948-010-9198-2

[11] Zerylnick, C., Torroni, A., Sherman, S.L. & Warren, S.T., Normal variation at the  myotonic dystrophy locus in global human populations. American Journal of Human Genetics, 56, pp. 123–130, 1995.

[12] Balkansky, A.K. & Croissier, M.M., Multicrafting in prehispanic Oaxaca. Archeological  Papers of the American Anthropological Association, 19(1), pp. 58–74, 2009. doi: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-8248.2009.01013.x

[13] Jensen, M.E.R.G.N. & van Broekhoven, L.N.K. (eds), Mixtec Writing and Society, Knaw Press: Amsterdam, 2008.

[14] Miles, L.D., Techniques of Value Analysis and Engineering, McGraw-Hill: USA, 1972.

[15] Santos-Reyes, D.E. & Lawlor-Wright, T., Understanding design in nature can benefit p roduct conceptual design. International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics, 4(2), pp. 105–122, 2009. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2495/dne-v4-n2-105-122