Claire Wintle

Diplomacy and the Design School: The Ford Foundation and India’s National Institute of Design

ABSTRACT This article explores the Cold War context for the relationship between India’s National Institute of Design and its US funder, the Ford Foundation. Drawing on Ford Foundation archives to examine the complexities of philanthropic funds for US diplomacy with India, this article acknowledges US hegemony in design and modernization discourse, while also balancing it with attention to the reciprocal flows of knowledge between the West and the global South. This article examines the impact of design networks and expertise on international political and economic negotiations, and argues that Indian nationalism, both at the government level and in the design school, influenced Ford Foundation activities.