Abstract

Any attempt to rethink design, knowledge, or human development must begin by rethinking the cosmologies that quietly govern them. This article examines the Diné Four-Directions framework as a cosmological, epistemological, and pedagogical architecture that reorders how knowledge, design, and human development are understood. Drawing on the relational ontology and cyclical temporalities embedded in Diné philosophy, the framework articulates a four-part epistemic process that integrates Nitsáhákees (thinking), Nahat’á (planning), Iiná (living, or enactment), and Sihasin (reflection) into a coherent intellectual system. Through detailed analysis of its structural organization, developmental mappings, linguistic epistemologies, and cosmological foundations, the paper demonstrates how the model operates as a theory of mind, pedagogy, and design. It illustrates how the framework translates seamlessly into architectural practice, community planning, curriculum design, and research methodology while maintaining its Indigenous integrity. The discussion highlights the model’s broader philosophical implications, including its critique of Western linearity, its ethic of relationality, and its capacity to serve as a decolonial alternative to reductionist design paradigms. Strengths and limitations are evaluated, with attention to the risks of abstraction, institutional mismatch, and the political stakes of translating Indigenous knowledge into academic form. Ultimately, this article argues that the Four-Directions framework offers a rigorously articulated, conceptually rich, and ethically grounded system capable of reshaping design education and epistemic practice by restoring the relational, the cyclical, and the cosmological to the center of thought.

Keywords

Diné epistemology, four-directions pedagogy, Indigenous design theory, cyclical learning models, relational ontology, architectural education, decolonial methodology, cosmological pedagogy, applied epistemology.