Design for racial reconciliation dialogue : a South African case study

Abstract

The issue of racism and cross-cultural hostility is still prevalent in post-apartheid South Africa, including in church-based contexts. ‘One New Humanity’ (ONH) is an initiative that seeks to promote racial reconciliation dialogue through church congregant meetings in Durban. This research serves the ONH initiative through a practice-related case study that culminates in the design of a social media campaign. The aim of both the research and the campaign design is to stimulate increased racial reconciliation dialogue amongst ONH congregants, and in so doing spread racial reconciliation to wider communities. Research interviews with ONH congregants and pastors were framed using the theory of relational dialectics. This theory concerns conflict in interpersonal and social relations that are dialectical and contradictory. Relational dialectics is also closely linked to Bakhtin’s dialogical theory. The relational dialectics framework is established in the literature review and is then used as a methodological tool of inquiry leading to its final application in the graphic design of illustrated posts for a social media campaign. The graphic design of the social media campaign is a response to, and application of, the research inquiry into ONH congregants’ views on current racial tensions in South Africa. It is also guided by ONH pastors’ goals for their initiative. The praxis of the study then encompasses the guiding strategy for the ONH campaign, the creative brief for graphic design and the resulting social media content. This enables the ONH leadership to review the campaign for real time implementation. The visual language of the social media campaign draws upon screen print and linocut effects that are reminiscent of anti-apartheid posters of the liberation struggle. From the research data analysis through to the formulation of the creative brief and the design production, the campaign follows responsible design values regarding the impact of graphic design on the viewer’s thinking about racial reconciliation. The ONH Campaign takes the position that both sides of any racial conflict issue need to be understood for racial reconciliation to proceed. This even-handed understanding may be best communicated through provocatively juxtaposed visual image pairs that are digitally disseminated. As such, the research knowledge artefact lies within the ambit of ‘graphic design for good’ endeavours. The research conclusion reflects on the citizen design approach taken in this study, and it may support further ‘graphic design for good’ praxis research.