FACILITATING THE “TALKING AND WALKING TOGETHER” OF INDIGENOUS AND MAINSTREAM SCIENCES

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Annual International Conference

3-8 August 2008

FACILITATING THE

“TALKING AND WALKING TOGETHER” OF INDIGENOUS AND MAINSTREAM SCIENCES

*Cheryl Bartlett¹, Albert Marshall², Murdena Marshall²

1Cape Breton University, Sydney, NS, Canada

2 Eskasoni Mi’kmaq First Nation, NS, Canada

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ABSTRACT for C. BARTLETT, A. MARSHALL, AND M. MARSHALL:

Mainstream-trained research scientists and others in government, universities, consulting agencies, and elsewhere increasingly find themselves as participants in ecosystem or wildlife health initiatives wherein there is a desire to include

Aboriginal communities and traditional knowledge. An inherent challenge (which may or may not be acknowledged, recognized, or faced) within this desire is:

how do mainstream and Indigenous knowledges talk to, and walk with, each other? Insights that can help address this challenge can be drawn from the

“Integrative Science” (IS) initiative in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The initiative, now in its 15th year, involves university scientists and Mi’kmaq First Nations’

Elders, plus a few other key individuals and community organizations

(community-based, participatory action research methodologies are used). The IS vision from the outset was to bring together Indigenous and mainstream scientific knowledges and ways of knowing. The initial arena was post-

secondary science education but IS rapidly expanded into the arenas of science research, applications, and outreach to Aboriginal youth and community.

Insights from IS that can help facilitate the “talking and walking together” of Indigenous and mainstream sciences include various lessons learned, a

broadened view of science, and a few “big picture” science knowledge visuals.

Significance of the latter reside with the intent that participants in IS efforts be able to weave back and forth between Indigenous and mainstream sciences (as circumstances may dictate) rather than attempting to merge the two and also while trying to avoid knowledge domination, assimilation, or marginalization.

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Indigenous Western

“bringing our knowledges together”

Integrative Science

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Indigenous Western

“bringing our knowledges together”our sciences Integrative Science

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over 15+ years

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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ACKNOWLEDGE WE NEED

EACH OTHER ...

co-learning journey

#1

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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ACKNOWLEDGE WE NEED

EACH OTHER ...

co-learning journey

Two-Eyed Seeing

learning to see with the strengths of each & together

Albert Marshall, Elder, Mi’kmaq Nation

#1

#2

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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Two-Eyed Seeing

“LEARN ... to see from one eye with the strengths of

Indigenous knowledges and ways of

knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western (or Eurocentric or mainstream) knowledges and ways of knowing … and LEARN to use both

these eyes together, for the benefit of all.”

Albert Marshall, Elder, Mi’kmaq Nation

#2

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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view “SCIENCE”

inclusively ACKNOWLEDGE

WE NEED

EACH OTHER ...

co-learning journey

Two-Eyed Seeing

#2

#1

#3

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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Science is dynamic,

knowledge.

stories of our interactions with and within nature

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stories of our interactions with and within nature

• recognition

• transformation

• expression

• various

• various ways to connect the dots

• variety in our stories Science

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DO ... in a

CREATIVE, GROW

FORWARD WAY view “SCIENCE”

WE NEED

EACH OTHER ...

co-learning journey

Murdena Marshall, Elder, Mi’kmaq Nation

Together We Heal & Grow

seeing ^& acknowledging my deeds

Two-Eyed Seeing

#2

#1

#3

#4

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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“See, in the Mi’kmaq world, in all Native worlds, you have to give recognition to everything: misdeeds, good deeds, past deeds, you know? Anything. You have to give that acknowledgement. Everything that you do, you have to acknowledge it.”

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Iwama et al. 2007; Gaspereau Press Limited

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Iwama et al. 2007; Gaspereau Press Limited

put our values + actions + knowledges in front of

us ... like an object

#5

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ME

values, actions, knowledges

the

“HEALING TENSE”

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ME

acknowledge being it

talk to it, understand it look at it, own it

the

“HEALING TENSE”

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ME

talk to it, understand it look at it, own it

the

“HEALING TENSE”

“together we heal & grow”

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ME & YOU

talk to it, understand it

the

“HEALING TENSE”

“together we heal & grow”

look at it, own it

“US / WE”

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us ... like an object DO ... in a

CREATIVE, GROW

WE NEED

EACH OTHER ...

co-learning journey

Two-Eyed Seeing

#2

#1

#3

#4

#5

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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use VISUALS DO ... in a

CREATIVE, GROW

WE NEED

EACH OTHER ...

co-learning journey

Two-Eyed Seeing

#2

#1

#3

#4

#5

#6

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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use VISUALS put our values + actions

+ knowledges in front of us ... like an object

#5

#6 FOUR

BIG PATTERNS in our

PHILOSOPHIES

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Two-Eyed Seeing our world

1

“Two-Eyed Seeing”

learning to see with the strengths of each & together

OUR WORLDS

Two-Eyed Seeing

#1

Question:

What do we believe

the world or cosmos to be?

(ontology)

BIG PATTERN in our

PHILOSOPHIES

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1

OUR WORLDS

Two-Eyed Seeing

#1

subject ...

interconnective and animate:

spirit +

energy + matter

object ...

comprised of parts and wholes characterized by systems and emergences:

energy + matter

interconnective parts & wholes

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interconnective parts & wholes

1

OUR WORLDS

Two-Eyed Seeing

#1

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Two-Eyed Seeing

our key concepts & actions

2

OUR KEY CONCEPTS and ACTIONS

Two-Eyed Seeing

#2

Question:

What do we value as

“ways of coming to know”

the cosmos?

(epistemology)

PHILOSOPHIES

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- respect

- relationship - reverence - reciprocity

- ritual ^(ceremony) - repetition

- responsibility

- hypothesis

(making & testing)

- data collection - data analysis - model & theory

construction

Two-Eyed Seeing

2

J. Archibald, 2001, Can. J. Native Ed. 25(1):1-5

Two-Eyed Seeing

#2

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Two-Eyed Seeing

2 Two-Eyed Seeing

#2

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Two-Eyed Seeing

our languages & methodologies

3

OUR LANGUAGES and METHODOLOGIES

Two-Eyed Seeing

#3

Question:

What can remind us

of the complexity within our ways of knowing?

PHILOSOPHIES

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Two-Eyed Seeing

3 Two-Eyed Seeing

#3

weaving of patterns within nature’s patterns via

creative relationships and reciprocities among love,

land, and life (vigour) that are constantly

reinforced and nourished by Aboriginal languages

un-weaving of nature’s patterns (especially via analytic logic and the use

of instruments) to cognitively reconstruct

them, especially using mathematical language

(rigour) and computer models

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UN-WEAVING WEAVING

vigour rigour

Two-Eyed Seeing

3

Life Love Land

Math

&

Instruments

Two-Eyed Seeing

#3

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UN-WEAVING WEAVING

vigour rigour

Two-Eyed Seeing

3

Life Love Land

Math

&

Instruments

Two-Eyed Seeing

#3

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Two-Eyed Seeing

our overall knowledge objectives

4

from: CCL Aboriginal Learning Knowledge Centre (www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL) from: www.leads.ac.uk

OUR OVERALL KNOWLEDGE OBJECTIVES

Two-Eyed Seeing

#4

Question:

What overall goals do we have for

our ways of knowing?

PHILOSOPHIES

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Two-Eyed Seeing

4 Two-Eyed Seeing

#4 collective, living

knowledge to enable nourishment of one’s journey within expanding sense of “place, emergence

and participation” for wholeness and

interconnectiveness

dynamic, testable, published knowledge

independent of personal experience

that can enable

prediction and control

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Two-Eyed Seeing

4 Two-Eyed Seeing

#4 collective, living

knowledge to enable nourishment of one’s journey within expanding sense of “place, emergence

and participation” for wholeness and

interconnectiveness

dynamic, testable, published knowledge

independent of personal experience

that can enable

prediction and control

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Two-Eyed Seeing

4

from: CCL Aboriginal Learning Knowledge Centre from: www.leads.ac.uk

(www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL)

Two-Eyed Seeing

#4

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use VISUALS

DO ... in a

CREATIVE, GROW FORWARD WAY

view “SCIENCE”

WE NEED

EACH OTHER ...

co-learning journey

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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use VISUALS

DO ... in a

view “SCIENCE”

WE NEED

EACH OTHER ...

co-learning journey

WEAVE

back and forth between our

worldviews weave via BIG PICTURES

#1

#3

#4 #2

#5

#6

#7

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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use VISUALS

DO ... in a

view “SCIENCE”

WE NEED

EACH OTHER ...

co-learning journey

WEAVE

back and forth between our

worldviews weave via BIG PICTURES

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#7

#6

SEVEN

LESSONS LEARNED

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Thank you / Wela’lioq

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The support of various partners and funding agencies is

gratefully acknowledged.

Eskasoni Detachment