In the background post to this framework we introduce Zita and Eline‘s master thesis projects and trace the strands of exploratory research that brings the knowledge work of Indigenous scholars like Robin Wall Kimmerer and Martin Nakata together with our explorations on creativity, creative practice based research, and weaving knowledge systems. This framework is the synthesis from blending together our collective understanding and sensemaking across disciplinary boundaries once each of the thesis projects was complete.
I have attempted to design the platform with the spirit of Nakata’s cultural interface theory (1997; 2007) in mind so that it acts as a guide for us to look for points of reconciliation as a means to creatively blend multiple knowledge systems. It is not “the” answer nor does it provide answers for the knowledge weaving that must be done by each team or group planning to work with other knowledge systems. Instead, it offers a means to gain clarity on one’s own blind spots by mapping the underlying structure of knowledge systems onto means of gathering evidence and means of interpretation.
Ways of Knowing
To provide an underlying structure for the way knowledge systems work I visualized Kimmerer’s words in the form of a 2×2 position map.
“In indigenous ways of knowing, we say that a thing cannot be understood until it is known by all four aspects of our being: mind, body, emotion, and spirit. The scientific way of knowing relies only on empirical information from the world, gathered by body and interpreted by mind. In order to tell the mosses’ story I need both approaches, objective and subjective.”
(Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 2021)
We can see the gaps in the quadrants once her positioning of Objective and Subjective are filled. Experience and Intuition are two ways of knowing that seem to fit. Experience fits between Emotion as the empirical evidence gathering mechanism and Mind as the means of interpretation. However, the caveat remains that Experience accrued over time is also a way of knowing that could take the form of muscle memory – driving a car, for instance – or emotion. Experience is however Subjective and even if its a practical skill, one ‘feels experienced’ thus one feels confident of one’s skills and capacities. The empirical evidence for Experience is thus gathered through Emotion. Similarly, Intuition feels just right as a 6th sense between Body and Spirit. Intuition is not considered to be interpreted by mind. And, though it is commonly referred to as a feeling – it is most often called a gut hunch, not an emotion experienced like anger or joy. Thus it can be said to be a form of embodied data.
In looking for points of overlap and thus reconciliation (Nakata’s theory of cultural interface), I briefly introduce the metaphors of day science and night science attributed to Nobel prize winning French scientist Francois Jacob.
“Our breakthrough was the result of “night science”: a stumbling, wandering exploration of the natural world that relies on intuition as much as it does on the cold, orderly logic of “day science.” In today’s vastly expanded scientific enterprise, obsessed with impact factors and competition, we will need much more night science to unveil the many mysteries that remain about the workings of organisms.”
(F. Jacob, The Statue Within: An Autobiography, 1988)
and
“[Night science] is a sort of workshop of the possible where the future building materials of science are made…Where thought proceeds along sinuous paths, winding streets, most often blind alleys…. What guides the mind, then, is not logic. It is instinct, intuition.”
(Gaver et al., 2022 attributed to Jacob, 1966)
It is difficult to overlook the similarities between Jacob’s words and Kimmerer’s, although their reasons for their ways of approaching knowing and knowledge creation – natural scientists both – may differ. Further, Jacob’s description of night science guided by intuition underscores the addition of Intuition to the ways of knowing framework. One’s intuitive perception can only be said to increase with one’s experience (see Dreyfus & Dreyfus, 1980). The addition of intuitive perception in transformative research has also been brought to notice by Donna Mertens (2017). She cites Walton (2014) to suggest researchers and participants be trained in recognizing intuitively grasped knowledges, using transpersonal methods.
“Intuitive perception can help achieve richer forms of understanding when used to complement processes such as analytic reasoning and information gained from the conventional five senses.”
(Walton, 2014 p.37)
Experiential knowledge accrues from both exposure to an environment as well through repetitive practice. Pamela Smith’s recent book covers the development of skilled practice, such as that among artisans and craftsmen, and introduces the idea of skills as an interface for knowledge creation, dissemination, and preservation. One example of this is seen in Zita’s research context. Knowledge of disaster preparedness over the centuries of living in a geologically volatile region had been embedded in the skilled practice of indigenous house design and transmitted through local traditional construction methods, practices, and tools. This way of knowing can only be gleaned through lived experience and transmitted through repetitive practice under the guidance of skilled master craftsmen.
