Patricia Mwenda

‘She is not alone!’ Afrofuturist Wearable Devices for Speculative PTSD Treatment in Kenya

Through out the course of the COVID-19 Pandemic the term “Shadow Pandemic” emerged due to increased cases of domestic abuse around the world. ‘She is not Alone! Explores speculative wearable technology to reimagine Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) treatment for female-identifying domestic abuse survivors in Kenya. The envisioned speculative wearable devices consist of the Moyo Monitor designed to aid in continuous monitoring of PTSD associated with domestic abuse and the Tulia Band designed to aid in self-directed PTSD treatment. The wearable devices draw design inspiration from Kenyan culture and themes situated within Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism frameworks, which aim to convey symbolism of empowerment for female-identifying domestic abuse survivors and in a much larger context highlight the importance of raising awareness of domestic abuse in Kenya.

“‘She is not alone!’ explores speculative wearable technology to reimagines treatment for PTSD associated with domestic abuse in Kenya. The wearable devices draw design inspiration from Kenyan culture and themes situated within Afrofuturism and Africanfuturism frameworks, which aim to convey symbolism of empowerment for female-identifying domestic abuse survivors and in a much larger context highlight the importance of raising awareness of domestic abuse in Kenya. The methodologies employed include health design thinking to highlight empathy within the design process, speculative design which aims to help explore the overlap of the past, present and future to reimagine PTSD treatment. Design for wearability to explore placement on the body and lastly Modular Design that divides the development of the wearable devices into technical functionality and design. ”