This is a process article for weaving indigenous and mainstream knowledges within science educational curricula and other science arenas, assuming participants include recognized holders of traditional ecological knowledge (we prefer “Indigenous Knowledge” or “Traditional Knowledge”) and others with expertise in mainstream science. It is based on the “Integrative Science” undergraduate program created at Cape Breton University to bring together indigenous and mainstream sciences and ways of knowing, as well as related Integrative Science endeavors in science research, application, and outreach. A brief historical outline for that experiential journey is provided and eight “Lessons Learned” listed. The first, namely “acknowledge that we need each other and must engage in a co-learning journey” is explained as key for the success of weaving efforts. The second, namely “be guided by Two-Eyed Seeing”, is considered the most profound because it is central to the whole of a co-learning journey and the article’s discussion is focussed through it. The eighth lesson, “develop an advisory council of willing, knowledgeable stakeholders”, is considered critical for sustaining success over the long-term given that institutional and community politics profoundly influence the resourcing and recruitment of any academic program and thus can help foster success, or sabotage it. The scope of relevance for Two-Eyed Seeing is broad and its uptake across Canada is sketched; the article also places it in the context of emerging theory for transdisciplinary research. The article concludes with thoughts on why “Two-Eyed Seeing” may seem to be desired or resisted as a label in different settings.
Traditional Indian education is an expression of environmental education par excellence. It is an environmental education process that can have a profound meaning for the kind of modern education required to face the challenges of living in the world of the twenty-first century (Cajete (2010), p. 1128, emphasis as in original).

As two-eyed seeing implies, people familiar with both knowledge systems can uniquely combine the two in various ways to meet a challenge or task at hand. In the context of environmental crises alone, a combination of both seems essential (Aikenhead and Michell (2011), p. 114).

http://uoitstem.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/9/4/21944170/two_eyed_seeing.pdf

Two-Eyed Seeing and Other Lessons Learned within a Co-Learning Journey of Bringing Together Indigenous and Mainstream Knowledges and Ways of Knowing.

It is with t’ooyaks (Nisga’a for ‘thanks’) to senior author and Mi’kmaw Elder Dr. Albert Marshall that we (the author team) have come to learn and embrace the concept of Etuaptmumk (Mi’kmaw for ‘TwoEyed Seeing’) and it is through his guidance that we have envisioned a new path for fisheries research and management. The knowledge Albert has imparted through his work over the decades, he is adamant, is not his own to claim, for he is but a conduit for the knowledge of generations. It is thus to those generations of Mi’kmaq Received: 28 April 2020 | Revised: 23 August 2020 | Accepted: 25 August 2020 DOI: 10.1111/faf.12516

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/faf.12516

“Two‐Eyed Seeing”: An Indigenous framework to transform fisheries research and management

Geographic engagement with Indigenous peoples remains inextricably linked to colonialism. Consequently, studying Indigenous geographies is fraught with ethical and political dilemmas. Participatory and community-based research methods have recently been offered as one solution to address concerns about the politics of gathering, framing, producing, disseminating, and controlling knowledge about Indigenous peoples. In this article, we critically engage with the emergence of participatory and community-based research methods as “best practice” for undertaking research into Indigenous geographies. We articulate four concerns with this form of research: a) dissent may be stifled by non-Indigenous researchers’ investments in being “good”; b) claims to overcome difference and distance may actually retrench colonial research relations; c) the framing of particular methods as “best practices” risks closing down necessary and ongoing critique; and d) institutional pressures work against the development and maintenance of meaningful, accountable, and non-extractive relations with Indigenous communities. We then contemplate the spatiality of the critique itself. We consider the ways in which our longstanding friendship, as researchers invested at multiple scales with Indigenous geographies and identities, provides its own distinct space of practice within which to confront the political and ethical challenges posed by research with/about/upon Indigenous geographies and peoples. While not arriving at any concrete template for undertaking research about Indigenous geographies, we suggest that certain friendships, established and situated outside research relationships, may be productive spaces within and through which research methods may be decolonized.



La recherche participative axee sur la communaute, les geographies autochtones, et les espaces de l’amitie: Les sites de dialogue critique



Etablir un dialogue sur les questions geographiques avec les peuples autochtones est indissociable du colonialisme. Par consequent, l’etude des geographies autochtones se heurte a des dilemmes d’ordre ethique et politique. Des methodes de recherche participative axee sur la communaute ont recemment vu le jour dans l’optique de resoudre les enjeux politiques entourant la collecte, l’encadrement, la production, la diffusion et le controle des connaissances sur les peuples autochtones. C’est notamment a la faveur des relations etroites d’amitie de longue date que nous entretenons entre chercheurs investis dans les multiples facettes des geographies et des identites autochtones que nous jetons un regard critique sur l’emergence des methodes de recherche participative axee sur la communaute reconnues comme une « pratique exemplaire » pour la recherche sur les geographies autochtones. Ainsi, dans cet article, nous abordons quatre questions relatives a cette approche en recherche: a) la dissidence peut etre etouffee par des chercheurs non-autochtones qui visent la « qualite»; b) les revendications formulees pour contrer la difference et la distance peuvent ramener les relations de recherche a une forme coloniale; c) la definition au prealable de methodes particulieres comme « pratiques exemplaires » peut conduire a une sorte d’immunite face a une critique necessaire et evolutive; et d) les pressions que peuvent exercer les institutions vont a l’encontre de l’etablissement et du maintien de relations veritables, responsables et non abusives avec les collectivites autochtones. Bien qu’un modele en recherche sur les geographies autochtones ne soit pas encore mis au point, nous sommes portes a croire que des amities nouees en dehors des relations de recherche rendraient possibles des espaces productifs a l’interieur desquels et par lesquels des methodes de recherche de decolonisation pourront prendre leur essor.

Participatory and community‐based research, Indigenous geographies, and the spaces of friendship: A critical engagement

Making room and moving over: knowledge co-production, Indigenous knowledge sovereignty and the politics of global environmental change decision-making

Indigenous communities and federal funding agencies in Canada have developed policy for ethical research with Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous scholars and communities have begun to expand the body of research regarding their peoples, and novel and innovative methods have begun to appear in the published literature. This review attempts to catalogue the wide array of Indigenous research methods in the peer-reviewed literature and describe commonalities among methods in order to guide researchers and communities in future method development. A total of 64 articles met inclusionary criteria and five themes emerged: General Indigenous Frameworks, Western Methods in an Indigenous Context, Community-Based Participatory Research, Storytelling, and Culture-Specific Methods.

https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/iipj/article/download/7515/6159

Indigenous Research Methods: A Systematic Review

This article outlines concepts and approaches for teaching Integrative Science (in Mi’kmaq: Toqwa’tu’kl Kjijitaqnn) using the guiding principle of Two-Eyed Seeing, and it discusses challenges that need to be overcome. This discussion is based on the almost 10 years of experience delivering Integrative Science to students at Cape Breton University. Integrative Science is the interface between Indigenous Sciences (at Cape Breton University guided by eastern Canadian Mi’kmaq traditions) and Western Sciences where one does not have to relinquish either position but can come to understand elements of both. Western scientists seek to understand how the Universe works. The basic premise of Indigenous Sciences is participating within nature's relationships, not necessarily deciphering how they work. The Two-Eyed Seeing approach used in Integrative Science seeks to avoid knowledge domination and assimilation by recognizing the best from both worlds. Integrative Science in the classroom relies on a holisti...

/pdf/two-eyed-seeing-in-the-classroom-environment-concepts-1soanbfmas.pdf

Two-Eyed Seeing in the Classroom Environment: Concepts, Approaches, and Challenges

his paper details how researchers and community partners have combined results from quantitative and qualitative investigations to develop a program for preventing alcohol abuse in First Nation at-risk teens that are meaningful to the lives of these youth. This article focuses on the levels of theory and evidence which support the development of youth interventions. While this novel, innovative program attempts to nurture health and healing practices, work needs to be done at a level not often considered by academics: the “root” level or where you meet the client to be served before the level of crisis, considering youth development as an opportunity to support a healthy growth pathway. A metaphor can help convey the associated underlying meaning. Imagine a young person, with an inclination toward alcohol abuse, standing at the edge of a cliff. Interveners tend to grab the individual at the edge, if possible. In contrast, work at the “root” level considers youth who may be a mile away from that edge of the cliff.

Community Collaboration in Developing a Culturally Relevant Alcohol Abuse Early Intervention Program for First Nation Youth

/pdf/two-eyed-seeing-a-cross-cultural-science-journey-43sypuyoto.pdf

Two-Eyed Seeing: A Cross-cultural Science Journey

Summary This article shares some of the experiences of an integrative science team based at Cape Breton University, Canada. Integrative science is defined as “bringing together Indigenous and Western scientific knowledge and ways of knowing” and the team includes Mi’kmaq Elders and educators, Cheryl Bartlett and her Research Associates. Together we worked to rekindle the Mi’kmaq Sky Story, Muin and the Seven Hunters, to produce a DVD of the story as well as a children’s book, and then to share it with people throughout Canada and the world. We offer insights into the manner in which night sky stories engender interconnectiveness 1 and interdependability 2 through their cultural, scientific and ecological teachings and so help to revitalise the culture and the individual by feeding all aspects of the human experience (spiritual, emotional, physical and cognitional). We explore the concept of storywork 3 , with emphasis on the relationship between storyteller and listener as a story is told, as well as considering the multi-layered aspect of Indigenous stories.

/pdf/mi-kmaq-night-sky-stories-patterns-of-interconnectiveness-37ran2f63t.pdf

Murdena Marshall

Papers

Two-Eyed Seeing and Other Lessons Learned within a Co-Learning Journey of Bringing Together Indigenous and Mainstream Knowledges and Ways of Knowing.

Two-Eyed Seeing in the Classroom Environment: Concepts, Approaches, and Challenges

Community Collaboration in Developing a Culturally Relevant Alcohol Abuse Early Intervention Program for First Nation Youth

Two-Eyed Seeing: A Cross-cultural Science Journey

Mi'kmaq Night Sky Stories; Patterns of Interconnectiveness, Vitality and Nourishment