Working with First Peoples Design Knowledge
First Nations have been living in contemporary Australia for between 45,000 and 67,000 years–the oldest continually practised culture in the world. British colonisation occurred relatively recently, just over 200 years ago. First Nations were systematically and violently dispossessed of their lands and the colonisation of Australia has an ongoing, profound impact on the living memory and history of First Nations.
Since the beginning of colonisation, there has been an ongoing Indigenous-led effort to reclaim and assert First Nations voices through the proclamation of identities, languages, stories, memories and the rewriting of histories. There is a responsibility of the design professions to meaningfully engage with First Nations histories and living cultures as an essential input to understanding design contexts. Drawing on global perspectives of Indigenous knowledges, framings of sovereignty and self-determination as well as Indigenous-led design, this specialisation introduces students to how Indigenous forms of Knowledge can be incorporated into urban planning, design and creative projects and outcomes.
Through this specialisation, students will explore approaches to design that is inclusive of Indigenous histories and contemporary concerns and examine how Indigenous Knowledges and Knowledge Systems are valuable to global environmental and societal challenges. Students will develop their capacities to sensitively engage with Indigenous Knowledges, to inform their understanding of design and to enact responsible, culturally informed practices in the context of ongoing colonialism and settler colonialism.
Students wanting to undertake a Working with Indigenous Design Knowledge specialisation are required to complete at least two of the following subjects. Students need to have completed a minimum of 150 credit points of undergraduate study to enroll in MULT30022: Indigenous Engineering and Design (Semester 2).
ARCH30006 First People's Perspective in Design (Semester 1)
The subject will explore historical and contemporary First Peoples design practices with a focus on principles and protocols for engaging with First Peoples knowledges, communities, sites of significance and artefacts. Drawing on global, historical and contemporary precedents as expressed in key texts and concepts, the subject unfolds through the consideration of design through a mapping exercise that develops students’ capacity to respectfully engage with First Peoples Knowledges, sites, materials and associated stories, and to do so with purpose and with reciprocity. An emphasis on First Peoples design concerning cultural landscapes, artifacts, and stories will enable students to value First Peoples knowledges as applicable to contemporary design, and environmental and societal challenges.
CREA30001: Resistance in Indigenous Design (Semester 2)
This online subject engages with the intersections of Indigenous design and creative practices with an emphasis on the strengths of Indigenous creative design practices in Australia.
Informed by the assimilation period (1901-1973) in Australian history, students will examine historical and contemporary movements by First Nations artists to use art, craft and design to reinforce sovereignty and challenge the colonial project with reference to contemporary Indigenous scholarship, and focusing on resistance, refusal, authority, and agency.
Students will develop their capacities to sensitively engage with Indigenous Knowledges, to inform their creative and collaborative practices, and to enact responsible culturally safe practices in the context of ongoing settler colonialism. In this online subject, digital synchronous (in real time) seminars and webinars are supported with guided and self-guided online activities including discussions, archival research, and creative practice.
Students will develop a creative project that enacts current strength-based approaches to change and transformation in First Peoples' communities. The creative project highlights the diversity, collaborative and empowering actions that can be taken working with and for communities that enrich learning student's experiences.
This subject is developed and lead by Indigenous scholarship, pedagogies, and knowledges in creative and cultural practices. This subject is taught by First Nations people.
MULT30022: Indigenous Engineering and Design (Semester 2)
For millennia, the Indigenous peoples of Australia have understood and cared for their various environments and not only adapted to their surroundings but modified and managed them sustainably – living with the land rather than living off it. Increasingly, we are becoming aware that this frequently involved the application of sophisticated engineering principles and design. In this subject, students will experience an on-country two-way learning exchange with the Gunditjmara community at the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape at Lake Condah in south-west Victoria.
Students will explore specific examples of Indigenous design and engineering, including the aquaculture system developed over thousands of years by the Gunditjmara people in the Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape at Lake Condah in south-west Victoria. Assisted by elders from the Gunditjmara community, students will examine and gain an understanding of not only the technologies involved but also the physical and cultural context of the system, together with its underlying values.
Students will also explore the significance of Indigenous Cultural Heritage, protocols for working with Indigenous communities and will develop a proposal for a specific engineering design project identified with Gunditjmara community.
This subject will require two visits to Budj Bim, one visit in Week 3 (Saturday-Monday, inclusive) and another 4-day visit during the mid-semester break.