Learning to See with Two Eyes
Presented by: Dr. Julie Lytle
ONLINE - Thursday, April 9th at 3:00pm ET
Learning to See with Two Eyes, the latest installment in our Beyond Walls: Works in Progress series with the Episcopal Parish Network, invites participants into a thoughtful and challenging exploration of how relationships between Indigenous and nonindigenous peoples have been shaped — and how they might be transformed – when Indigenous and Western ways of knowing are held together for the benefit of all.
Drawing on the concept of “two-eyed seeing” (Etuaptmumk), introduced by Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall, and facilitated from a settler perspective, this presentation explores roots of our assumptions about Indigenous-settler history, considers the ongoing impact of those narratives, and explores what it means to move from being allies to being accomplices with a deeper, more accountable solidarity with Indigenous communities.
Presenter: Julie Lytle - Associate Professor of Educational Leadership & Director of Distributive and Lifelong Learning Initiatives, Bexley Seabury Seminary; Chicago, Illinois
Moderator: Elizabeth Boe – Program Director, Episcopal Parish Network & Mission Personnel Officer for The Episcopal Church.
Guest Host: Jason A. Fout - Chief Operating Officer & Associate Professor of Anglican Theology, Bexley Seabury Seminary; Chicago, Illinois
In the Presenter’s Words
The following reflection from Dr. Lytle offers a fuller sense of the questions, context, and invitation shaping this presentation.
What images of Native Americans shaped your earliest understanding of the world? For many of us who grew up in the United States, those images came from television Westerns — more than thirty programs airing simultaneously in prime time during the 1960s alone. Looking back, the representations they offered fall into four troubling categories: howling savage warriors attacking innocent settlers; loyal, mostly silent sidekicks like Tonto dutifully following the Lone Ranger's lead; intoxicated Indians unable to function in contemporary society; and sexualized, exoticized Indian princesses. It took me decades to recognize how deeply these dehumanizing stereotypes had shaped my worldview, my leadership, and my decision-making. How might they have shaped yours?
This presentation invites us into the uncomfortable but necessary work of tracing those conceptualizations to their roots — particularly The Doctrine of Discovery, a 15th-century Christian mandate to bring "the faith" and "civilization" to the rest of the world. Those of us with European ancestors have inherited personal, interpersonal, cultural, and institutional privileges that are difficult to reconcile. The challenge we share is finding a response that honors the dignity of Indigenous peoples without inadvertently replicating the very methodologies we are trying to dismantle.
One promising path forward comes from Mi'kmaw Elder Albert Marshall, who introduced the concept of Etuaptmumk — "two-eyed seeing." He described it as learning to see "from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges and ways of knowing." This is not about choosing one worldview over the other. It is a relational, reciprocal way of engaging that honors the distinct integrity of each tradition while opening up what becomes possible when both are used together — for the benefit of all.
Together, we will use this two-eyed framework to briefly explore pivotal moments from the history of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations in the United States, and then consider what it means to move from ally to accomplice — a concept developed by Nick Coulthard that offers a more grounded, accountable way for non-Indigenous people to stand in solidarity with our Indigenous siblings.
Come ready to reflect, to question your own formation, and to sit with complexity alongside others doing the same work.