An analysis of a study abroad liveSTUDIO project brief between New Zealand graphic design based students working in a collaboration with a rural Samoan NGO

Abstract

Drawing on the experiences of the presenter, a teacher living in the NZ Samoan diaspora, this presentation is based on events surrounding the delivery of a New Zealand tertiary graphic design class in a Samoan setting. A case study approach is taken to an analysis of teaching and learning practices within a collaboration of indigenous knowledge and diasporic epistemologies. The case study revolves around a creative technologies class of second year Bachelor of Visual Arts students who navigate across the oceanic vā of New Zealand and Samoa. Their objective was the completion of one of their course requirements, a liveSTUDIO brief, which was undertaken through an arrangement with the Poutasi Development Trust. The case study was situated in the coastal village of Poutasi, in the Falealili district of Samoa.

The presentation will explore the notion of acclimatizing as an ethical design process and methodology of applied learning and teaching, when practiced from a ‘outsider’ perspective in a village setting. In exploring acclimatizing I employ the Samoan socio-relational practices of fa’aaloalo and tausi le vā, upholding their value as best practice teaching methodologies for trans-Oceanic teaching from a New Zealand Samoan perspective. This acclimatizing methodology was also used in research data collection and the curation of ideas that sought to represent a village identity in a branding design brief.

This presentation will include information on presentations to schools, a mini documentary, student mood boards, folio presentations, reflective student journals collated during the mālaga, and formal feedback and discussions from our partner collaborators, the Poutasi Development Trust who played the role of the client in this graphic design brief.

"the purpose of this session ... looks at the teaching and learning practices between the collaboration of indigenous knowledge and diaspora epistemologies within a case study".