In the current climate crisis, creating a symbiotic collaboration between all members of an ecosystem has become a prominent topic. By reevaluating human-centered methodologies through a cultural probe and an orienting activity, I address notions of collaboration, cohabitation and extending one’s body beyond the skin. I explore the concept of care in human-plant relationships, along with understanding the trouble with designing for and with care in the context of human-nature-technology kinship. The cultural probe, through its ambiguity, has prompted reflections on care and multispecies kinship, whereas the orienting activity has been an attempt to potentially shift to a non-anthropocentric perspective. A materialization of speculative thinking, these activities are a first step in challenging human exceptionalism, a new approach to viewing the human as decentered in design. This paper positions care as a premise in addressing human-centered methodologies to include non-human actors, with prototypes and speculative design as techniques that facilitate approaching a challenging and complex topic as one of more-than-human assemblages. / I den nuvarande klimatkrisen har skapandet av symbiotiska sammarbeten mellan alla deltagare av ett ekosystem blivit ett viktigt ämne. Genom att omvärdera människocentrerade metodiker genom en cultural probe och en orienterande aktivitet adresserar jag idéer om sammarbete, samlevnad och förlängningen av ens kropp bortom huden. Jag utforskar konceptet handomtagande i människo-plant-relationer tillsammans med förståelsen för mödorna med att designa för och med handomtagande i kontexten människa-natur-teknologi-släktskap. En cultural probe har genom dess tvetydighet drivit reflektioner kring handomtagande och mångfaldsläktskap, där den orienterade aktiviteten var ett försök till ett potentiellt shifte till ett icke-antropocentriskt perspektiv. Dessa aktiviteter, som är material från spekulativt tänkade, är ett tillvägagångasätt och första steg i att utmana människocenterad exceptionalism i design. Denna artikel positionerar handomtagande som en premiss i adresserandet av människocentrerade metodiker till att inkludera icke-mänskliga aktörer genom användandet av prototyper och spekulativ design som underlättande tekniker till utmaningar och komplexa ämnen som mer-än-mänskliga församlingar.

The objective of this qualitative study was to explore the extent to which body maps could be implemented by educators as part of the fulfilment of their pastoral role. I approached the study from a constructivistinterpretivist perspective underpinned by action research principles. I implemented an instrumental case study as research design and selected a primary school located in an informal settlement community in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. Ten female educators at this school, three other members of a research team and I took part in the process of data generation. Having acquired baseline information during the first field visit, a fellow researcher and I implemented an intervention during which the techniques of body mapping and making memory boxes (the study focus of my fellow researcher) were introduced to the participants. We then requested them to apply the two techniques (as part of a research assignment) before we undertook a second field visit. At the second visit, we attempted to explore the participants' experiences during the application of the techniques. Throughout the study I relied on focus group discussions, observation, critical self-reflection, auditive methods, visual methods, photos, a reflective research journal and field notes as data collection and capture methods. I analysed and interpreted raw data thematically. Baseline information indicated that educators were quite clear about the theoretical nature of the pastoral role, yet the practical application of this role presented a challenge. Data generated after the intervention indicates how educators understood and used the body mapping technique. This theme was refined into subthemes dealing with implementation modes, application contexts and application outcomes of the body mapping technique. The second main theme indicated the applicability of body maps in the classroom context as part of the pastoral role. This theme comprises subthemes relating to general curricula, practical considerations, alternative uses and application modes, pastoral responsibilities that were facilitated (and not) by participants' use of the body mapping technique. Research findings therefore seem to indicate that the body mapping technique could be used by educators in fulfilling their pastoral role. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / MEd / unrestricted