The materials used in our digital devices and technology originate from all over the world, including Indigenous lands. The exploitation of Indigenous land and resources also occurs here in the North, particularly in Sápmi. This is evident in recent cases such as Repparfjord, Fosen, and Melkøya. These examples demonstrate how Indigenous voices are being silenced, entangling this oppression within the system.
How can we understand where these materials originate beyond their geographic paths? Which land and peoples are linked to the stories and systems behind our digital technologies?
This can be explored through the Materials Library of Stones, a physical collection of minerals used in our digital devices, exhibited in the Sustainability Lab on the 6th floor. These stones can inspire questions and reveal their stories. By understanding and recognising different ways of knowing and being in the world, how can we design to incorporate such knowledge?
Courses:
IN5190 – Design for Sustainability (Fall, 2025)
IN5010 – Design, Technology, Society (Spring, 2026)
Resources:
Kramvig, B., & Kvidal-Røvik, T. (2022). Sámi Storytelling Through Design. In The Sámi World (pp. 520-534). Routledge.
Finbog, L. R., Kane, J. N., & Riquet, J. (Eds.). (2025). Circumpolar Connections: Creative Indigenous Geographies of the Arctic. Wesleyan University Press.
Reinert, H. (2016). About a stone: some notes on geologic conviviality.
Escobar, A. (2018). Designs for the pluriverse: Radical interdependence, autonomy, and the making of worlds. Duke University Press.
