Co-designing with groups like Latinx youth, who have complex intersectional identities that mediate their emotional health experiences and behaviors, can be challenging. Research around the driving causes of the growing epidemic amongst Latina youth points to complex ecologies that include interrelated structures of inequality such as class, culture, race and gender. In this presentation I explore how one can operationalize multiracial feminist frameworks (MFF), to examine how technology might be designed in ways that explicitly consider these intersecting structures of inequality and eco-developmental contexts. I focus on the use of a new co-design technique – intersectional elaboration – to provide generative insight into the intersectional nature of design with marginalized groups such as Latinx adolescents. Through a case-study with Latinx youth example I work through the use of a co- design technique called intersectional elaboration and discuss findings that suggest intersectional elaborations can serve as a useful generative co-design technique to inform designs that address complex arrangements of intra-ecological conflicts and cultural legitimacy.
Ralph is an Assistant Professor at Fordham University in New York, USA. His research focuses on how information and technology are used and designed by marginalized groups, with a focus on how co-design can support innovation and equity in education and mental health. His current projects include co-designing curriculum that connects data with art and social justice, as well as investigating how existing design affordances interact with cultural and racial identities in Latinx communities.