Etuapmumk
Whose knowledge counts as knowledge to be centred, and whose knowledge is relegated to the periphery? In these times of emerging technologies, this question has another layer: Whose information is data to be extracted and whose information is knowledge for what can be done with that data? Globally, with claims that “data is the new oil,” we are seeing the active thriving of colonisation and colonial values. Data from the majority world and the least powerful are extracted and used to build AI tools. The benefits of these tools often serve the most powerful, and whose harms (surveillance, extraction, targeted violence) are most commonly felt by the least powerful. Subverting colonial assumptions around knowledge supremacy and paving the way for more meaningful engagements toward epistemic justice, the principle of “Two-Eyed Seeing” or Etuaptmumk offers a way out of this dynamic.
Before proceeding further, we want to name the fact that Two-Eyed Seeing is a principle developed by Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall in collaboration with researchers at Cape Breton University. Unlike most of the other concepts in this archive, it was specifically articulated as a framework for bringing Indigenous and Western knowledge systems into dialogue, which means that it has been developed with precisely the kind of cross-cultural engagement in mind that this archive is attempting to facilitate. We approach it with humility and note that Elder Marshall has been clear in naming the fact that Etuaptmumk is a gift offered in relationship, and not a methodology to be extracted and applied without that relationship. We hold this tension openly.
Understanding Etuaptmumk
Etuaptmumk or Two-Eyed Seeing was developed by Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall as a guiding principle for research and education. The principle reminds us to learn to see from one eye with the strength of Indigenous knowledge systems and from the other eye with the strength of Western knowledge systems, and to use both eyes together for the benefit of all. It does not ask either knowledge stream to adapt to meet the other, and it does not ask either to replace the other. Instead, it tells us that both must be held with equal care and seriousness, in genuine relationship, and reminds us that the integration that emerges should strive to serve genuine flourishing as opposed to the interests of one tradition alone at the cost of that of the other.
Etuaptmumk does not call for cherry-picking Indigenous frameworks and concepts that lend colour or legitimacy to Western frameworks. It does not allow for Indigenous knowledge to be subordinated to scientific validation. It reminds us not to treat or use Indigenous wisdom as rhetorical resources while leaving Indigenous communities out of decision-making and policy processes. It tells us to make a genuine commitment to epistemic partnership that requires relationship, time, and willingness to be changed by and grow from all that one encounters.
Etuapmumk has inspired this very archive, as the desire is to bring knowledge traditions that have been excluded from AI governance into genuine dialogue with the frameworks that currently dominate the space.
What Etuapmumk Unsettles in Governance
The epistemic foundations of AI are almost entirely Western. All the knowledge that goes into shaping algorithms and designing AI, the platforms built to gather and collect data, the benchmarks, metrics, and indicators used to evaluate performance and define success, the problems identified as worth solving, the rhetoric of AI inevitability and techno-optimism are heavily reflective of an elite Western, Global-North-led, ethos. This standard is treated as universal. Indigenous knowledge systems, however, are almost entirely absent. They have different understandings of time, causality, relationship, and what constitutes and counts as knowledge. But none of these understandings have so much as had space within the current frameworks.
For long, mainstream approaches have settled for “consultation as the framework to include diverse voices. This, very often, happens after key decisions are made and critical insights are at best added to the mix as an afterthought. Etuapmumk reminds us that this does not get us very far and reminds us that Indigenous knowledge is not to be included as a supplement, but as a core component. In AI governance, Etuapmumk offers room for a fundamental reframe. What would AI systems look like if they were designed from the inception to hold multiple ways of knowing with equal seriousness? What problems would be identified as worth solving, and what would truly count as success or a good outcome? What would the relationship between developers and communities look like?
Etuapmumk offers both inspiration and a warning. It tells us that dialogue without relationship and inclusion without power-sharing reproduce the same systemic and structural epistemic hierarchy that it claims to challenge. It asks us to examine whether we are using both eyes or just one eye and performing the use of the other. It tells us to examine the knowledge we include and how we do so, and what knowledge gets excluded in the process. It drives us to introspect on a difficult question, namely, “What would we have to give up in terms of epistemic authority, institutional power, and the comfort of familiar frameworks for Etuapmumk to be real and not mere rhetoric?
References
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. Journal of environmental studies and sciences, 2(4), 331-340.
Marshall, M., Marshall, A., & Bartlett, C. (2018). Two-eyed seeing in medicine. Determinants of Indigenous peoples’ health: Beyond the social, 44-53.
Mignolo, W. D. (2009). Epistemic disobedience, independent thought and decolonial freedom. Theory, culture & society, 26(7-8), 159-181.
Simpson, L. B. (2011). Dancing on our turtle's back: Stories of Nishnaabeg re-creation, resurgence and a new emergence. Winnipeg, MB, Canada: Arbeiter Ring Pub.
This article draws from the wisdom and work of Elder Albert Marshall. While educating ourselves on Indigenous worldviews is important, we understand that our actions can also contribute to and enable appropriation. As part of our ongoing attempts at practicing accountability, we invite readers to consider donating to Indigenous groups, collectives, organizations, or initiatives to support their lives and work.
