Abstract
Design education has not substantially evolved and for generations of design students Eurocentric influence has been canonized. Not surprisingly, design educators perpetuate the ideologies they learned and the practices they have been taught. Non-European design traditions and designers continue to be othered or are made invisible in contemporary curriculum. The centering of Eurocentric design pedagogy and curriculum and decentering of design knowledges and contributions by other cultures, negates the lived experience of Indigenous, Black diaspora and other racialized students and restricts ways to characterize competence. Black students in Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) schools have reported a “room of silence” in which instructors and students fail to provide substantive feedback during critique citing lack knowledge. In contrast, implicit bias has been reflected in comments because critique is culturally bound. In this commentary on pedagogy, I present the Nguzo Saba as a framework to counter the monolithic hegemony and expand the scope of design education. The principles of the Nguzo Saba framework are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith). The Nguzo Saba framework encompasses African diaspora epistemologies such as Ubuntu. The framework’s guiding principles are grounded in Kawaida Theory, a liberatory ideology for social change.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.175
Citation
Moscou, K.(2025) Designing Curriculum with a Difference: The Nguzo Saba as Pedagogy, in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.175
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Statement of Pedagogy
Designing Curriculum with a Difference: The Nguzo Saba as Pedagogy
Design education has not substantially evolved and for generations of design students Eurocentric influence has been canonized. Not surprisingly, design educators perpetuate the ideologies they learned and the practices they have been taught. Non-European design traditions and designers continue to be othered or are made invisible in contemporary curriculum. The centering of Eurocentric design pedagogy and curriculum and decentering of design knowledges and contributions by other cultures, negates the lived experience of Indigenous, Black diaspora and other racialized students and restricts ways to characterize competence. Black students in Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) schools have reported a “room of silence” in which instructors and students fail to provide substantive feedback during critique citing lack knowledge. In contrast, implicit bias has been reflected in comments because critique is culturally bound. In this commentary on pedagogy, I present the Nguzo Saba as a framework to counter the monolithic hegemony and expand the scope of design education. The principles of the Nguzo Saba framework are Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith). The Nguzo Saba framework encompasses African diaspora epistemologies such as Ubuntu. The framework’s guiding principles are grounded in Kawaida Theory, a liberatory ideology for social change.