Shifting Ground: Addressing Environmental Instability through a Method of Two-Eyed Seeing in an Arctic Community

Abstract

Given the necessity of addressing the impacts of climate today, research and practice must engage local ecological, cultural, and technical knowledge to drive meaningful and respectful research. Through field work and conversation in the Arctic community of Tuktoyaktuk, and a survey of building practices, this thesis uses the method of Two-Eyed Seeing, developed by Mi’kmaq Elder Albert and Murdena Marshall, to harness the strengths of both Inuit knowledge and ways of knowing and Western knowledge and science. The purpose of this method is to acknowledge the success of diverse perspectives (and indigenous methodologies) in research and design. These results inform the design of a research center that leverages indigenous and Western knowledge and extracts the design implications of climate and context as a responsive design strategy.