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SEEDS: An Earth-centered Approach to Design Education Based on the Study of Indigenous Knowledge and Universal Shamanism

SEEDS: An Earth-centered Approach to Design Education Based on the Study of Indigenous Knowledge and Universal Shamanism

Dominique Gedanke Flaksberg
MFA Design Research and Development, 2025

Project Description:
This thesis project explores the question "What would design in professional practice and education look like if it shifted from human-centered to Earth-centered? Earth-centered design is defined as a practice that understands the nuances between all life on Earth and takes into consideration more-than-human agents when designing, generating or contributing to the making of our world (Smith). Through my field work with Indigenous communities and the study of ancestral practices around the world through the lens of Shamanism, this project is based on wisdom collected and developed into SEEDS: Social and Environmental Exercises for Design Beyond Sustainability. These exercises expand on an existing shamanic framework from Leo Artese (2023), a pioneer in the study of Shamanism. The framework incorporates Indigenous world-making and embodiment practices, highlighting a design practice that integrates the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual bodies of those who practice it.

Committee Members:
Susan Melsop (advisor), Elizabeth Sanders, Norah Zuniga Shaw 

Keywords:
Design, Indigenous, Design Education, Earth-centered Design, Sustainability

 

 



 

Filters: 2025, Graduate Studies, Design Research and Development, MFA Thesis