Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing) and Ethical Space: Ways to Disrupt Health Researchers’ Colonial Attraction to a Singular Biomedical Worldview

Indigenous research on Turtle Island has existed for millennia, where knowledge(s) to work with the land and its inhabitants are available for next generations. These knowledge systems exist today but are rarely viewed as valid biomedical ‘facts’ and so are silenced. When Indigenous knowledge is solicited within health research, the knowledge system is predominantly an ‘add-on’ or is assimilated into Western understandings. We discuss disrupting this colonial state for nurse researchers. Two concepts rooted in Indigenous teachings and knowledges, Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing) and Ethical Space, shed light on ways to disrupt health researchers’ attraction to a singular worldview which continue to privilege Western perspectives. Knowledge rooted in diverse knowledge systems is required to challenge colonial relations in health research and practice. A synergy between Etuaptmumk and Ethical Space can support working with both Indigenous and biomedical knowledge systems in health research and enhance reconciliation.

The Right Space: The Impact of Meaningful Dialogue in Informing Culturally Safe Care in the Emergency Department in a Rural Northern Community

This project focused on emergency department (ED) care provided in a rural northern Canadian community. It studied how supported and meaningful dialogue between health authority providers and physicians whose work is associated with the ED, and providers who work with Indigenous people outside the health authority, helped inform culturally safe care in the ED. Guided by Indigenous and non-Indigenous advisory committee members, this participatory action study created a space for dialogue that allowed the perspectives of two worlds and multiple disciplines to emerge and develop solutions. The findings demonstrated what culturally safe and unsafe care in the ED look like, identified current culturally safe practices, and described factors that challenge culturally safe care. This project, although small, was unique because of the degree of collaboration in health care improvement between those inside and outside the health authority. Supportive dialogue that is mutually negotiated to include attention to culturally safe practice may be the starting place for the creation of the right space, the ethical space, which is so crucial in moving forward. From this foundation, there are six priority suggestions on how to enhance culturally safe care within an ED setting. These recommendations, built from dialogue within a locally generated ethical space, may extend beyond the local context and may be crucial for supporting cultural safety more broadly in the health care system. The findings presented here were the result of a research project undertaken as part of a master’s degree and do not reflect the views of any other body.

Philosophical conceptualization of evil in the ethical space of Confucianism

The subject of this research is the philosophical conceptualization of evil in the Confucianism. This goal is achieved by solving the following tasks: 1) assessment of Confucianism as a synthesis of the philosophical views of Confucius and Mencius; 2) determination of good and evil as  the contrasting concepts in the ethical space, which is based on the ideal of a “person of high nature” Junzi and the real world of a “petty person"; 3) evaluation of evil as the antipode of good, which is based on the sense of duty and regard of moral rules. The novelty of this research consists in the first within the Russian historical-philosophical literature comparative analysis of the views of Confucius and Mencius upon the nature of evil, examination of the genesis of such representations, and their relevance for modern philosophy. Representations on the nature of good and evil of Confucius and Mencius are based on the contrast within the ethical space of the ideal of a “gentleman” (due) and the reality of a “petty person”. The virtue of a “gentleman” is a means of achieving good; and the virtuous life leads to prosperity of the country. Evil of a “petty person” captured by selfish motives, leads to social demise and political disintegration. Mecius applies same moral principles, which govern the individual’s everyday life, to the political sphere of social existence. The thinker underlines circumscription of the monarchs, indicating that even the monarch – if not a “gentleman”, but merely a “petty person” – can be corrupted by evil, in which case the country faced demise.

INDIGENOUS INITIATIVES IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN CANADA: COLLECTIVE CONTRIBUTIONS

The purpose of this Participatory Action Research (PAR) project is to share with the CEEA-ACEG membership the Indigenous initiatives being taken in CEAB accredited engineering programs across Canada. We received contributions from 24 institutions and 4 organizations, from which 11 categories of initiatives emerged. The intention is to create an ethical space where Indigenous and non-Indigenous engineering educators can learn from one another, and work together guided by Etuaptmumk (Two-Eyed Seeing), to advance Indigenous ways of knowing and being in engineering in Canada. This project is ongoing. Contact us if you wish to contribute and/or engage in the projects arising from this work.