Resistance in Indigenous Design (CREA30001)

Source: https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/subjects/crea30001 Parent: https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/components/btrack-127

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• Resistance in Indigenous Design

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About this subject

Overview

This subject has been designed and developed for online delivery and assessment only.

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 critically 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 learning modules and 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.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• critically respond to the diverse historical and contemporary Indigenous creative and cultural practices and intersections of art and design approaches;
• apply knowledges, technologies, place, diversity of perspectives to demonstrate strength-based approaches to working with Indigenous Knowledges, collaborative relational experiences, and creative practice;
• respectfully and responsibly respond to shared knowledges;
• apply principles of cultural literacies when developing and producing creative works;
• critically evaluate positionality to knowledges, technologies, place, and diversity of Indigenous perspectives expressed in creative and cultural practices.

Generic skills

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• employ a wide range of idea creation techniques;
• articulate, integrate and adapt knowledge from different domains;
• apply critical thinking, analytical and problem-solving skills to unfamiliar challenges;
• manage competing demands on time, including self-directed project work;
• integrate personal reflection into the creative process;
• give and receive constructive feedback;
• demonstrate empathy and ability to overcome stereotypes and prejudices.

Next: Eligibility and requirements

Last updated: 19 November 2025