Thread by @albanvillamil

Time to livetweet my @UXRCollective talk 🤓 Researchers have always been architects of racism; how we interpret the racial realities of our participants shapes their navigation of the world. How does our minimization of race/racism in #uxresearch produce racist design? #UXRConf

We know that race is socially constructed but what does it mean, as sociologist Dorothy E. Roberts notes, that race is an invention? How have social researchers historically invented notions of race that have served their economic and political goals (and oppression)? #UXRConf

So... although race is socially constructed, its invention and reinvention has always had consequences. And any design that preserves that racial hierarchy is what we can call racist. Our colorblind approach to user research is one practice that perpetuates inequality #UXRConf

When Barack Obama was elected as the U.S. president, many Americans believed they had entered a new era of the “post-racial” society. If a Black man could be elected as president, how could racism exist anymore?
Race no longer matters. This is colorblind ideology #UXRConf

The problem with colorblind ideology as applied to #uxresearch is that it distorts the reality our users live in and it does this in three ways: It erases whiteness, it erases the history and continuation of racial inequality, and it erases prejudice #UXRConf

One feature of colorblind user research is acknowledging race is racist in itself. A classic example is when researchers say things like “it’s a mistake to recruit by demographics. Only behaviors and motivations matter.” But race-neutral sampling isn't that neutral #UXRConf

Research ecosystem bias equals all-white samples and researchers don’t question this b/c they claim not to see race. But they don’t “see” race because whiteness is already set as the invisible default even though over 30% of the U.S. population doesn’t identify as white #UXRConf

Another feature of colorblind research is that it erases the legacy of racism. Racist policies and institutions have always defined America’s history. But colorblind ideology attributes "negative" group behavior and outcomes to factors other than structural racism #UXRConf

There’s no reset button for racial inequality. Colorblind #uxresearch is problematic precisely b/c it denies contemporary forms of racism and prevents us from thinking more structurally about solutions. To frame problems, we need to first map out how racial inequality #UXRConf

Finally, colorblind #uxresearch erases prejudice. Companies have begun focusing on the unique experiences of POC users but when we only focus on the victims of prejudice--not the perpetrators--we don’t capture how our designs enable racists to hurt people of color #UXRConf