DISGUST / DESIRE THESIS
a Love, a State, a Language, a Fate.
How disgust shapes human behaviour + ways in which design can shift attitudes towards insect eating.
MA + MSc Global Innovation Design, Imperial College London & Royal College of Art, 2017.
Writing + Graphic Design by Cristina Carbajo, 2017
Comments below from design researcher, historian and theorist, Dr J.C. Kristensen.
“Cristina Carbajo’s writing on disgust and the western stigma of eating insects has a very strong, authentic and highly situated voice that explores its research topic with a clear intellectual hunger, a hunger which this piece of work clearly articulates through its exceptionally fluent weaving of history, theory and practice.
The framing of the work through four chapter titles, A Love, A State, A Language and A Fate, structures the work in a highly engaging manner, piecing together four different aspects of the research and its thinking to form a highly reflective and reflexive study. The first chapter, A Love, considers the position of the author in relation to the subject, and why eating insects is such a critically important field of study in the twenty-first century, particularly in relation to the discipline of design. The second chapter, A State, examines the psychology of eating insects and the broader state of disgust, exploring physical and moral disgust, and the relationship between them as well as the theory of emotions and the senses. The third chapter, A Language, examines disgust in the field of aesthetics, weaving together the work of visual artists and critical theorists to produce an account of the communication and representation of disgust. The final chapter, A Fate, is an account of an ethnographic experiment on eating insects through running a pop-up food stall of various insect based food products, in which Cristina not only designed the food but the entire experience including the platters, an accompanying video, postcards, t-shirts as well as how the diner experienced the eating of insects. The conclusion is sophisticated in noting an all encompassing approach is required, albeit strategically deployed, leaving the project open to future development.
The depth of research is exceptional, ranging from psychology, sociology, anthropology and law, to philosophy, critical theory and food studies, to film studies, art history, aesthetics and design theory – particularly strong is its engagement with Julia Kristeva’s concept of abjection, and with film, art, fashion and design, such as Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, the work of Alexander McQueen, Marilyn Minter, Louise Bourgeois and Jenny Saville. Although the sources are wide ranging, there is no sense that this dissertation becomes lost in its work; indeed the dissertation’s very strength lies in its ability to control and master its material, so that it can work its way along a clear critical path of enquiry – a clear demonstration of intellectual rigour. There are wonderful turns of phrase that link concepts, ideas, histories and theories in often atypical ways, making connections which deepen knowledge and understanding, and synthesising concepts to produce new paths for research and exploration. The use of images throughout is outstanding, adding not only architectural depth to the writing, as if your reader is walking around four different rooms where you are staging the work, but also intellectual depth as the images are integral and indeed sites of knowledge in and of themselves; the image collages at the start of each chapter are especially effective in communicating the critical ideas your reader will meet in the next encounter.
It was an absolute pleasure to read.”
For a copy please email cristina.carbajo@network.rca.ac.uk
Cristina Carbajo © 2024