Creating Space for the “Sacred” in Cancer Care: Integrating Indigenous Medicines into Health Care

Integrating Indigenous Medicines into Health Care

Abstract

Indigenous First Voice is utilized to explore the Two-Eyed Seeing (“Etuaptmumk”) principle to theorize the integration of Indigenous medicines into health care in Canada. Similar to autoethnography, Indigenous First Voice positions the experiences and knowledge of the researcher at the heart of the analysis, while bringing formerly erased, contorted and stigmatized knowledges to the fore. In particular we draw on Fournier’s account of a recent cancer experience and exploration of her experiences as a Métis1 woman to illustrate tensions that require negotiation in order to avoid being absorbed into a dominant biomedical way of understanding health and wellness. We juxtapose her sensory experiences of using Indigenous healing alongside biomedicine for cancer care and call for
a dynamic, multi-eyed seeing framework which more accurately captures the nature of the Two-Eyed Seeing/Etuaptmumk principle.