Dharini Padh
This paper presents a practice-based case study exploring the intersection of systemic design, indigenous epistemologies, and pedagogical interventions through the lens of Indian pastoralism. Pastoral communities function as embedded ecologists, utilising rich linguistic expressions, encompassing spoken words, herding calls, gestures, and environmental naming systems to navigate and sustain diverse ecosystems. However, these knowledge systems have historically been marginalised by colonial and Eurocentric conservation frameworks. Drawing from field research in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Gujarat, this paper details the creation of the Pastoral Knowledge and Language Archive (PKLA), a repository designed to document this ephemeral ecological wisdom. Furthermore, it offers a reflective account of how systemic designers can transition from objective documentation to active authorship by translating the PKLA into context-sensitive pedagogical tools. These interventions include an illustrated children’s book targeting early education, and public engagement installations such as immersive breed books and zine-making workshops—exhibited at the Living Lightly Festival 2025 in Bengaluru, India. Ultimately, the paper argues that systemic designers must look beyond Western taxonomic frameworks and engage with the lived environment of communities. In this case to embrace the fluid, relational ontologies of pastoralists. By validating these marginalised ways of knowing, design can act as a bridge to decolonise environmental language, foster resilient relations among human and non-human contexts, and offer actionable pathways towards sustainable and inclusive futures.
Keywords: Indigenous knowledge systems, pastoralism and ecology, oral history archives, design as authorship, contextual pedagogy, decolonisation