I love podcasts. If you survey people in my life, they will all say at some point I have sent them podcast episodes. What these friends, family, co-workers likely don’t know is I didn’t know what a podcast was until AFTER college. I had heard of podcasts, but I didn’t know what they were or why I’d want to know, let alone listen to them. However, this changed during my first job after undergrad, as we would drive a lot to access remote streams and rivers to survey. A lot of time in a work truck with a co-worker means lots of time for talking, music, audiobooks, and of course, podcasts. My long-standing favorite podcast is 99% Invisible. It covers all kinds of topics about “all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world.” including a recent episode titled “The Rights of Rice and Future of Nature”. This episode is memorable for me. It touches on many topics near to my heart, shares things I have learned since moving to Hawai‘i for my PhD, and is so neat to hear the 99% Invisible team discuss. At the heart of this episode is differing world views - Indigenous ways of knowing and western ways of knowing. While I have learned more about tropical forest restoration during my Ph.D. program, I have also been grounded in learning Hawaiian culture, Indigenous perspectives, and the Hawaiian language. Part of this process was solidified during a graduate course in Hawaiian Studies, HWST631: Pono Science, with Dr. Noelani Puniwai. Pono means goodness, uprightness, morality, etc.. An objective of this class is, “By understanding Native Hawaiian religious, cosmological, and genealogical conceptions of and relationships to the ocean and ʻāina, students will be empowered to understand their connection to Hawaiʻi and their role in culturing a pono future.” During this class, I truly began to grasp what different worldviews mean and how impactful ways of knowing are on our daily lives. I was also introduced to the concept Etuaptmumk, or Two-Eyed Seeing. Figure 3 from Reid et al., 2020 illustrating a conceptual framework of the flow of knowledge, including Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing). Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall first brought forward the guiding principle of Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing) which can be described as, “the gift of multiple perspective treasured by many aboriginal peoples and explains that it refers to learning 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 knowledges and ways of knowing, and to using both these eyes together, for the benefit of all.” (Bartlett et al., 2012). Mi’kmaw citizen and poet Rebecca Thomas gave a Ted Talk highlighting Etuaptmumk. She eloquently begins by sharing how the language we speak shapes our worldview and how recognizing and honoring different worldviews simultaneously can lead to beautiful outcomes. Rather than seeing worldviews as “either, or” it is “and, both at the same time”. Etuaptmumk facilitates transcultural collaboration grounded in reciprocity, accountability, and co-creation. Figure 4 from Reid et al., 2020 showing a stepwise framework to apply Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing). I think so much positive, pono change could happen if more people at least consider there are many different ways of knowing. Pono change in plant and forest science and pono change across disciplines. As I continue learning from plants and trees I hope to do so in a pono way. And I think that positive and pono change would be greatly magnified if people used the guiding principle of Etuaptmumk or other approaches to weaving or braiding ways of knowing.
Resources: Bartlett, C., Marshall, M., Marshall, A. 2012. Two-Eyed Seeing and Other Lessons Learned Within a Co-Learning Journey of Bringing Together Indigenous and Mainstream Knowledges and Ways of Knowing. J Environ Stud Sci, 2:331-340. DOI 10.1007/s13412-012-0086-8 Reid A.J., Eckert, L.E., Lane, J-F., Young, N., Hinch, S.G., Darimont, C.T., Cooke, S.J., Ban, N.C., Marshall, A. 2020. “Two-Eyed Seeing”: An Indigneous Framework to Transform Fisheries Research and Management. Fish and Fishereies, 2020;00:1-19. DOI: 10.1111/faf.12516
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AuthorI started this blog as part of my Botany In Action Fellowship through Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Archives
June 2023
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