Mary Beth Doucette is Mi’kmaq/Canadian from Unama’ki’ (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia). She is a Membertou band member and an industrial engineer with an MBA in Community Economic Development. She currently holds the Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies and she is also Assistant Professor at Cape Breton University’s Shannon School of Business. Mary Beth's work focuses on reconciliation and decolonization in organizations. Her research with organizations strives to integrate an Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing lens throughout their policies, procedures, and practices to share knowledge in culturally informed ways (see more details below). Mary Beth co-edited a book titled Indigenous Business In Canada. This book published in 2016 is the first of its kind in showcasing and theorizing the principles and practices of Indigenous business in Canada.
Our conversation centres on Mary Beth's trajectory on engaged scholarship and the community-based economic transformation model and philosophy that are central to the work she does with her colleagues in the MBA. This work cherishes indigenous knowledges and the complex histories, needs and values of her community in Nova Scotia and beyond.
To learn more about the Etuaptmumk/Two-Eyed Seeing lens Mary Beth shared some key resources:
See http://www.integrativescience.ca/ & the following articles. The first co-authored by Elder Albert Marshall, the Mi’kmaw Elder credited with initiating the use of the metaphor two explain the premise of the Integrative Science program.
Bartlett, C., Marshall, M., & Marshall, A. (2012). Two-Eyed Seeing and other lessons learned within a co-learning journey of bringing together indigenous and mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2(4), 331–340. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-012-0086-8
Colbourne, R., Moroz, P., Hall, C., Lendsay, K., & Anderson, R. B. (2020). Indigenous works and two eyed seeing: Mapping the case for indigenous-led research. Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, 15(1), 68–86. https://doi.org/10.1108/QROM-04-2019-1754
Reid, A. J., Eckert, L. E., Lane, J.-F., Young, N., Hinch, S. G., Darimont, C. T., Cooke, S. J., Ban, N. C., & Marshall, A. (2020). “Two-Eyed Seeing”: An Indigenous framework to transform fisheries research and management. Fish and Fisheries, n/a(n/a). https://doi.org/10.1111/faf.12516