Haunted Militants : Participatory Design and researcher-activist tensions

This dissertation explores the involvement of Militant Design Research as an alternative approach to participatory processes in interaction design. It integrates the concepts of Ghosts, Haunting and Dark Moods to address affects within activist movements. The project is situated within the context of Malmö Students for Palestine, a grassroots, pro-Palestinian organisation operating within Malmö University. Motivated by a call to reimagine design practices otherwise, beyond hegemonic perspectives, this project navigates an ethical tension between supporting an activist community and adhering to institutional constraints. Through ethnographic engagement with Malmö Students for Palestine, the research proposes an approach towards involving interaction design as a way of (re)structuring militant relations with dark moods. Furthermore, it reveals ongoing tensions related to the researcher’s multiple commitments using an autoethnographic method of impressionist writing. These accounts are analysed and presented as a method of avoiding generalised descriptions, unwanted exposure of members in a targeted group and revealing confidential information discussed during the process. The paper concludes by proposing multiple directions for further inquiries into Militant Design Research within the field of interaction design. These include exploring ways of contributing to activist groups, undertaking further explorations of dark moods in interaction design, using autoethnographic methods for knowledge dissemination, and ensuring accountable representations of research participants.