Weaving Indigenous and Western knowledge systems across a continuum of knowledge and decision-making spaces

Researchers and practitioners in many fields are increasingly bringing together (i.e. weaving) Indigenous and Western Knowledge Systems to address intertwined issues of environmental sustainability and social justice. However, varying expectations of what it means to ‘weave’ knowledge systems in practice can reinforce existing power structures, even in well-meaning collaborations. For instance, weaving knowledge systems to generate new insights about a managed ecosystem without simultaneously enabling collaborative decision-making for the management of that system can ultimately serve the dominant Western Knowledge System and undermine Indigenous sovereignty. Building on the growing literature on this topic, we address this ambiguity in expectations by articulating how weaving knowledge systems can happen along separate gradients in both knowledge and decision-making spaces. We present a framework for supporting collaborators in identifying more equitable ways of working along these gradients. We posit that Western researchers and practitioners must engage in an iterative process of deep learning to weave knowledge systems in a good way. Such learning requires Western researchers, practitioners, and institutions to not only question their assumptions about how knowledge can be acquired, but also grapple with the beliefs and value systems in which their knowledge is embedded. Given the plurality of views, experiences, goals, and contexts inherent to weaving knowledge systems, there should not be just one path forward. However, clearly articulating where collaborators find themselves within the knowledge-decision continuums — and where on these continuums they wish to go — can improve the effectiveness of pluralistic collaborations while holding those in power to account.