Overview

This module invites students to engage with Indigenous understandings of time that are cyclical, ancestral, and place-rooted—rather than linear and extractive. Many Indigenous knowledge systems do not treat time as a resource to be spent or optimized, but as a layered continuity of past, present, and future relationships. By reflecting on how their projects engage with memory, legacy, and future impact, students will gain deeper awareness of how different temporalities influence ethical design and engagement.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, students will be able to:

1. Describe key differences between linear and cyclical conceptions of time.

2. Analyze how Indigenous temporalities influence project goals, duration, and responsibility.

3. Reflect on the ancestral, future-facing, and community-linked dimensions of their own project work.

4. Consider how long-term consequences, memory, and legacy inform ethical responsibility.

Key Terms

• Cyclical Time
• Ancestral Presence
• Temporal Stewardship
• Deep Time
• Intergenerational Responsibility

Background Reading

Note: For every module, there is a more expansive list of resources available in the glossary. The readings provided in the module are good starting places for students/educators.

Rifkin, M. (2017). Beyond settler time: Temporal sovereignty and indigenous self-determination. Duke University Press. (Excerpt)

Simpson, L. B. (2017). As we have always done: Indigenous freedom through radical resistance. U of Minnesota Press. (Excerpt)

Yunkaporta, T. (2019). Sand talk: How Indigenous thinking can save the world. Text Publishing. (Excerpt)

Activities: Tracing Time through Project Effects

Time: 60 minutes

Format: Small group discussion and reflection

1. Concept Mapping (20 min; see Sample Materials for Module 3):

• On a large paper or digital whiteboard, have students draw a linear project timeline from start to finish.
• Then, they overlay a spiral or cycle, adding elements like: Who came before? Who carries it forward? What long-term consequences could this have?
• Prompt students to consider cultural, ecological, and generational layers.

2. Guided Discussion (20 min):

1. Ask: “In what ways does your project timeline reflect or reject linear time?”
2. Ask: “How might your work resonate with or disrupt ancestral memory or future possibility?”

3. Reflection Prompt (20 min):

• Write a short letter to someone 100 years in the future describing your project and why you made the choices you did. Who do you hope will remember this work? What do you hope they will inherit?
• Note: Students can complete this on their own or in small groups. Encourage students to be creative and vulnerable in their letter.

Faculty Notes/Implementation Tips

• This module pairs well with sustainability, heritage, archival, and long-term design projects.
• Encourage students to consider the invisible “temporal labor” of community knowledge holders.
• Be clear that not all Indigenous peoples share identical conceptions of time; this is an opportunity for complexity and comparison.
• Ryan Coogler’s 2025 film Sinners has an exceptional example of cyclical/non-linear time in the scene I Lied to You. Showing this in class as a way to explore what non-linear time/cyclical time might “look like” may help students depending on the age group. Emphasize the constant co-existence of ancestors, memory, and their active impact on culture, portrayed through music in this scene.

Optional Extension

Invite students to conduct brief research on the concept of time in the Indigenous community closest to their project site. What stories, practices, or rituals reveal how time is held or honored?

Assessment Options

Informal: In-class timeline, group discussion.

Formal: Letter to the future, brief research paper.