HUMN-306-SU31-2022: Studies in the Humanities for Design

Re-linking to our Human, Social and Natural Ecologies —Building emergent futures through existing land-based technologies (in the Pluriverse)


In this time of global reckoning on racial politics, climate change and decolonization, our professional practices in art and design have a unique opportunity to contribute strategies and concrete measures to arrive at a place that upholds the values of restorative justice and equality for our planet. Incorporating alternative epistemologies into land-based practices is a way of building sustainable futures with practices that already manifested in an equitable and respectful relationship with our planet. This course proposes an exploration of the connection between theory and praxis that is central to the rise of exciting, innovative paradigms of research-creation now appearing within the academy.

The course embraces the framework of the Pluriverse, proposed by Arturo Escobar in 2018, which challenges the universal narrative of modernity and asks to work in our practices, engaging with alternative models of life.