Weaving Together Two Ways of Knowing: Archaeological Organic Artifact Analysis and Indigenous Textile Arts

Abstract

In 2007, a Canadian Aboriginal community, Metepenagiag Mi'kmaq Nation, opened a major archaeology interpretation and cultural center. This center emerged out of 40 years of collaborative, community driven archaeology, and is informed by a Mi'kmaq concept of two ways of knowing, or “Two-eyed Seeing.” One of the first initiatives of this center was a workshop on archaeological textiles that sought to bring together traditional basket-makers with archaeological textile researchers, to seek mechanisms to increase this dialogue and expand the common ground between traditional archaeological perspectives in a co-learning environment. This article explores the development of the workshop, and the way in which it illustrates a comprehensive and profound commitment to respectful sharing of knowledge and working together.

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