Inclusion as Agencies in Friction

Abstract

Inclusivity is a contemporary social discourse that calls for practices enabling equal, just, or fair access to resources and opportunities. Designers and researchers are increasingly requested and pressured to take an active role as agents of inclusion. However, many current framings take positive outlooks at face value and do not address the root causes of exclusion. As researchers affiliated with design, we offer a critical discussion of this concept by problematizing and reflexively engaging with it. We position the argument that inclusion is always a meeting of agencies. Instead of striving to adopt and affirm ideal types, we acknowledge the value of recognizing the agencies made visible through frictions, which invite possibilities for negotiation and refusal as outcomes. Hence, inclusion frames relational practices with results that cannot be controlled―meaning that positive and negative effects coexist as part of social dynamism.