Abstract
This scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) study examines how African philosophies can function as pedagogical infrastructures, not decorative add-ons, in first-year design education. Through a 12-week introductory studio with 25 students meeting twice weekly (2.5 hours per session), I embedded Ubuntu (relational being), Sankofa (retrieving wisdom from the past), and rhythm (cyclical temporality) into the course structure. Learning artefacts comprise studio materials, anonymised teaching feedback collected as part of routine class activities, and my own teaching observations reviewed thematically around space, time, and feedback relations. Observed teaching indicators suggested higher participation in critique (average peer comments per student rising from 3.1 to 7.8), earlier sharing of work-in-progress, and more iterative refinements when these philosophies structured studio practices. The study demonstrates how decolonial pedagogies can operate within existing institutional frameworks, transforming first-year studios into spaces of collective learning, cumulative memory, and rhythmic renewal rather than competitive individual achievement.
Keywords
decolonial design, Ubuntu, Sankofa, rhythm, studio pedagogy, design education
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.303
Citation
Ofosu-Asare, Y. (2026) Reading Against the Grain: Ubuntu, Sankofa, and Rhythm as Pedagogical Infrastructures in First-Year Design Education, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.303
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Reading Against the Grain: Ubuntu, Sankofa, and Rhythm as Pedagogical Infrastructures in First-Year Design Education
This scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) study examines how African philosophies can function as pedagogical infrastructures, not decorative add-ons, in first-year design education. Through a 12-week introductory studio with 25 students meeting twice weekly (2.5 hours per session), I embedded Ubuntu (relational being), Sankofa (retrieving wisdom from the past), and rhythm (cyclical temporality) into the course structure. Learning artefacts comprise studio materials, anonymised teaching feedback collected as part of routine class activities, and my own teaching observations reviewed thematically around space, time, and feedback relations. Observed teaching indicators suggested higher participation in critique (average peer comments per student rising from 3.1 to 7.8), earlier sharing of work-in-progress, and more iterative refinements when these philosophies structured studio practices. The study demonstrates how decolonial pedagogies can operate within existing institutional frameworks, transforming first-year studios into spaces of collective learning, cumulative memory, and rhythmic renewal rather than competitive individual achievement.