A Self-Taught Design Literate, Tetsu Nakamura, a Japanese Physician in Afghanistan
This paper investigates the extraordinary career journey of Tetsu Nakamura based on documentaries, news articles, reports, and scholarly articles. The investigation is further fed by the insights gained through in-class discussions on the case over several years in an undergraduate introductory design course offered by the author. The paper attempts to develop a perspective through which Nakamura’s vision and practice of medicine can be appraised as design interventions. Would such a perspective play a meaningful role in deepening our understanding of design literacy? What lessons can we draw from Nakamura’s case concerning design literacy as transdisciplinary? What is the meaning of the total absence of women as actors in this case, reconsidering the case with respect and a pinch of criticism?