This course reimagines the garden as a space for cultural resurgence, healing, and resistance to colonial systems. From a decolonial and Indigenous perspective, we will explore how gardens function as living archives of ancestral knowledge, tools for reclaiming land-based practices, and sites of relationality between human and non-human beings. Grounded in principles of land stewardship, reciprocal care, and ecological ethics, this course invites students to engage deeply with the garden as a metaphor and material space for collective liberation and cultural renewal.Drawing on Bay Area Indigenous land rematriation projects, global farming practices, and urban gardening movements, students will examine how land-based practices rebuild community, preserve ecological and cultural knowledge, and resist capitalist economies. We will collaborate with local gardens and farms, including projects stewarded by Indigenous communities and mutual aid networks, to understand their histories and practices. Through hands-on learning and relational engagement, students will listen to and contribute to the stories of these spaces.Our readings, case studies, and art/design projects will include Indigenous and decolonial voices such as Rowen White (Sierra Seeds and Indigenous Seed Keeper Network), Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, and local land stewards, alongside mutual aid projects like Planting Justice and global models like Marjetica Potrc’s community-based designs. Visits to local farms and gardens, including sacred rematriated lands and mutual aid sites, will provide inspiration and grounding for our work. Together, we will unearth the power of gardens as spaces of cultural renewal, ecological justice, and transformative futures.Critical Ethnic Studies Studios introduce students to the interrelations between race/ethnicity, art making and design practices. These courses complement the Critical Ethnic Studies Seminars with their hands-on approach in which themes of ethnic identity are incorporated into studio and community practices.

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