No Design Without Indigenous Design: Extending First Year Design and Architecture Students’ Understanding of Indigenous Australia Joanne Paterson Kinniburgh, Alexandra Crosby, Michael Hromek Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney Abstract The design professions have undergone immense shifts over recent decades including an overdue, new receptivity to Indigenous skills and knowledge. Universities in Australia are currently examining approaches to engaging Indigenous knowledge in their degrees. This paper examines a project at at the University of Technology (UTS), supported by the institution-wide Centre for Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges and implemented across the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building. Specifically, the research asks how first year design students can learn about Indigenous perspectives on design, space, place and Country. We draw from literature on transition pedagogy as well as Indigenous education and analyse the student response to this project as it was implemented in 2015. Introduction The design profession has undergone immense shifts over recent decades including a much- needed new receptivity to Indigenous skills and knowledge. Universities in Australia are currently examining approaches to engaging Indigenous knowledge in these degrees, supporting small-scale projects within disciplines as well as implementing institution-wide policies. This paper examines one of these small-scale projects at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Specifically, we ask how first year design and architecture students can learn about Indigenous Australians and Indigenous design practice, and be exposed to Indigenous critical perspectives and Aboriginal scholarship. The work is framed by the UTS Indigenous Graduate Attribute Model (UTS:CAIK, 2015). Firstly, we introduce our project, providing a background to our work by exploring best practices in higher education curricula, drawing from the work of scholars such as Watson (2013), Kift (2012) and Asmar (2011, 2012). In this background section we also discuss these practices in relation to the design profession, referring to examples of interdisciplinary design collaboration such as the critical mapping of Hromek, Hromek and Hromek (2015) and the video resource produced by designers Tessa Zettel and Sumugan Sivanesan (2015). Secondly we discuss the institutional context for this work, and the two modes within which we operated. Student responses to this project are included. Lastly, we reflect on our own efforts to embed Indigenous ways of knowing within our teaching. We draw from experience collaborating over a twelve month period to change curriculum within undergraduate programs to better prepare students to be inter-culturally competent in their professional and community lives. Initiatives include bringing an Indigenous perspective to the mapping component of the interdisciplinary design and architecture programs. In explaining this work, we argue that there a range of manageable changes that can be made in design and 1 No design without Indigenous design: Extending First Year Architecture and Design Students’ understanding of Indigenous Australia, refereed paper. architecture curricula to expose students to critical Aboriginal perspectives and to engage with Aboriginal communities. Background: Best Practices in Learning and Teaching In considering best practices in learning and teaching about Aboriginal culture in Australian universities, we draw from a range of resources, such as those developed by Dr Christine Asmar (2011, 2012) with funding from a national Teaching Fellowship. We acknowledge the important discussions surrounding the differences between teaching about Aboriginal people and by Aboriginal people. We also acknowledge the confusion over the use of Aboriginal perspectives and Aboriginal knowledge, “with the two concepts being widely used to refer to the syllabus content that is taught about Aboriginal people, including for example, Dreaming stories and the Stolen Generations.” (Harrison and Greenfield, p.3). With this project we are concerned with how university teachers of design and architecture, both Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal might include Aboriginal scholarship (both perspectives and knowledge) within their curricula, in ways that redress some of the stereotypical representations students may have come across in their previous learning. In this sense, the project uses an action research methodology where the inquiry is conducted by and for those teaching design and architecture at universities (Sagor, 2000). The authors of this paper, both Indigenous and non- Indigenous, refer to an Indigenous methodological framework within their research and the project under discussion, ‘in order to make intellectual space for Indigenous cultural knowledge systems that were denied in the past’ (Rigney 2001, p.9). While there is not scope to discuss them in this paper, the epistemological aspects of this mean that knowledge is used and shared as it is is revealed through research. The findings presented in this paper include our own reflections on the project’s success as well as qualitative analysis of student and staff responses. This analysis was undertaken collaboratively within the community of practice. In reviewing the literature for this paper (and project) we found a range of scholars that had organised best practice guidelines into the faculties and schools widely found at most universities in Australia. For example the discipline specific examples of the Indigenous Cultural Competency framework lists the four broad fields of arts, business, education and science (including sub categories of Criminal Justice & Policing, Psychology, Psychiatry, Law, Information Studies, Mathematics, Public Affairs, Medical Practioners, Nursing, Occupational & Physical Therapy, Pharmacy, Social Work, etc. (Universities Australia, 2011). However we found a distinct gap in work that related to the teaching of design. As design and architecture academics we knew that if we were struggling to find resources, others must be also. The project aims to attend to this gap in knowledge within the University’s teaching curricular by engaging with Indigenous people (practitioners and academic) within the fields of design. It is through this direct engagement that the project aims to address some of the aforementioned shortcomings within these specific areas of knowledge within the University. In considering best practice in learning and teaching, we certainly are not aiming to standardise approaches or evaluate competencies. Rather we want to develop a culture within our faculty, and across Australia, of learning together about Indigenous perspectives on design, space, place and Country and embedding this learning into curricula. The UTS Approach 2 No design without Indigenous design: Extending First Year Architecture and Design Students’ understanding of Indigenous Australia, refereed paper. Krause et al (2005) established a new focus on institution-wide approaches to teaching and learning, instead of the then widespread ‘piecemeal’ program based schemes. The work presented here is located within and supported by two institutional Indigenous Australian units, which provided conceptualization and resources, alongside the UTS First Year Experience (FYE) Project, which operates an institution-wide strategy aimed at improving FYE through a third generation (Kift, 2009) approach to transition pedagogies both in- and outside the curriculum (Egea & McKenzie, 2012). The UTS program uses the scholarly principles of third generation first year practice; transition pedagogy; and practices that benefit LSES students; to help staff meet the challenges of larger and more diverse classes so that students effectively transition to and succeed in their studies. All three are underpinned a ‘whole of university’ approach, located with the university’s Equity and Diversity Unit. Without the institutional structures the work of this paper could not occur, or be sound. They are the “starting point and the essential structure for sustainability” (Kinniburgh, 2013, p. 2). “The First Year Experience (FYE) project key themes of the project revolve around students’ identity and sense of belonging; curriculum (engagement in the discipline and embedding transition pedagogies); aligning curricular and co-curricular student support mechanisms; infrastructure and supporting students to navigate the university system.” These themes resonated with the ambition to learn about Indigenous perspectives on design, space, place and Country, and informed the fine grain elements of the project. UTS has two institution-based Indigenous centres: Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning (IHL) Research Unit; and the Centre for Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges (UTS:CAIK). Both were critical to this project, and provided different aspects of the conceptualization of the current project. Jumbunna IHL Research Unit provides research- based strategic advocacy and support to Indigenous communities, and outreach to Australian Indigenous school students and parents. Within the institution, Jumbunna creates opportunities for Indigenous students, while simultaneously also working to increase understanding of Indigenous Australia for all Australians. As such they have advised team members and funded Indigenous practitioner guests into the faculty. UTS:CAIK is an Indigenous academic centre of expertise, focused on institution-wide adoption of Indigenous Graduate Attributes