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1.3 DEFINITIONS
Unlearning
Unlearning is diverging between context, beliefs, methods; Drawing Piscaer May 2017
An important framework in the context of this thesis is ‘unlearning’, as it is necessary in order to be able to operate in the fluid boundaries of the changing role of the designer. The term ‘unlearning’ is an ambiguous term and is interpreted in various ways. Unlearning in my view is a not an ‘undo button’ in a linear process, but is a method of critically switching and re-positioning between systems. In order to do that, one has to be able to ‘unlearn’ routines and fixed ideas existing in the other systems. The essay ‘Unlearning: A Duologue’, published in the ‘The Pedagogics of Unlearning’ (Fradenburg and Joy, 2016), described the urgency of unlearning in our complex networked society with all its fluid boundaries between knowledge ‘institutes’. ‘Unlearning’ is a process not opposite to ‘learning’, it rather is a process of diverging between beliefs and methods. “Unlearning is a process that shows people they should no longer rely on their current beliefs and methods. Because current beliefs and methods shape perceptions, they blind people to some potential interpretations of evidence. …” (Fradenburg and Joy, 2016, p.176).
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