Eliane Gerber

PhD project

Communication Design in Countering and Resisting Violence

Communication- and media-based interventions are an important part of nonviolent civic action aimed at countering and resisting violence. However, research on such interventions has largely ignored aspects of communication design. In the field of design, a contemporary, design-specific conceptualization of violence is missing. The project “Communication Design in Countering and Resisting Violence” addresses this research gap. Based on existing, interdisciplinary research on violence, nonviolence and conflict transformation, the project aims at developing a framework for the design of communication-based interventions against violence. Throughout the research process social-anthropological theory will serve as a fundament. This to ensure that the approaches developed take into account the socio-cultural particularities of sender and addressee in different contexts of application. The resulting framework will consist of 1) a proposition for the conceptualization of violence and nonviolence in design, 2) a design tool for nonviolent campaigns to serve design practitioners and peace activists, and 3) a design-based method of analysis for the evaluation of communication campaigns against violence. It is hoped that this framework can help foster peace and justice by increasing the impact of communicationbased interventions against violence.