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Title of the thesis: Participatory design for resistance: The making of pictograms with indigenous youth in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Thesis defender: Nathaly Pinto Torres
Opponent: Prof. Danah Abdulla, University of the Arts London
Custos: Prof. Guy Julier, Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture

Indigenous pictograms as devices for knowledge, identity, and resistance, pushing participatory design toward communal, territorial practice

This study draws on a long-term participatory design project in the Ecuadorian Amazon with indigenous youth, communities, and organizations. It centers on the collaborative creation of pictograms to represent and reactualize local knowledges and practices while supporting political action. Pictograms —sets of images representing concepts, practices, and knowledges— function as living devices for learning from and engaging with alternative ways of being, knowing, and doing.

Approached as knowledge systems and counter-hegemonic devices, pictograms move beyond standardized symbols of “modern” design. They operate as situated technological and cognitive tools for collective knowledge-building, carrying indigenous histories, knowledges, and political struggles. Their collective making with indigenous communities and territories opens pathways to reimagine design research as territorialized, social, and communal —challenging extractive approaches and moving beyond individual or collective practice.

Meanwhile, by integrating Marxist thought, Indigenous epistemologies of resistance, participatory design traditions from Latin America, and popular education within Indigenous Community Communication, this work invites researchers and practitioners to think and act in research otherwise. Thus, the study can engage to diverse streams of design and related disciplines, including socially engaged, decolonizing, and participatory approaches. It brings critical, inclusive perspectives to collaboration and visual knowledge-making, such as collaborative ethnography and visual methodologies, and can inform alternative and community media practices. Reflection on collaboration between academia and indigenous communities highlights both complementarities and tensions across this research space.

Ultimately, the work advances a framework for participatory design for resistance with indigenous peoples, expanding how knowledge, political action, and creative practice are understood, while engaging researcher positionality and the entanglements between local and global political realities.

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Pictograms of indigenous Amazonian nationalities of Ecuador.

By indigenous youth from each nationality and organization: Esperanza Piaguaje, Siekopai (NASIEPAI); Sabina Guerrero, Siona (ONISE); Shakira Yumbo, A’i Kofán (NOA’IKE); Esteban Timias, Shiwar (NASHIE); Jeaneth Mashian, Achuar (NAE); Royer Santi, Andwa (NAPE); Nicxon Enqueri Nihua, Waorani (ONWO); Yankuam Wampash, Shuar (FICSH); and Lizbeth Tanguila, Kichwa (FOIN). Supported by Nathaly Pinto and CONFENIAE. Use permitted under a copyleft license, in accordance with Indigenous principles (see: ).

Keywords: Participatory Design, Indigenous Communities, Pictograms, Resistance, Latin America

Contact: nathaly.pinto@aalto.fi, +358 45253 6777

Zoom link for the event:  

Thesis available for public display 7 days prior to the defence at and