Melanie Goodchild, Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Roronhiakewen (He Clears the Sky) Dan Longboat, Kahontakwas Diane Longboat, Rick Hill, Ka’nahsohon (A Feather Dipped in Paint) Kevin Deer
9 min
This paper explores the necessity of decolonizing systems thinking by integrating Indigenous knowledge with Western systems theory. The authors propose a shift from purely intellectual, analytical problem-solving to a relational model where knowledge is understood as wisdom-in-action. By analyzing systemic crises through the lens of Indigenous-led awareness and connection to the land, the authors argue that the current global corrosion of spirit can only be reversed by reconnecting humans to Mother Earth and to each other.
The research centers on the Haudenosaunee (Mohawk) Two-Row Wampum treaty, which serves as a guiding metaphor for the coexistence of distinct knowledge systems. The treaty signifies that Indigenous and Western epistemologies should travel side-by-side like two vessels in a river, maintaining their own autonomy while respecting, supporting, and learning from one another. This ethical space allows for dialogue that prevents the dominance of one worldview over another, fostering a space where both types of knowledge can contribute to the preservation of the "river of life."
The authors utilize "two-column" narratives to present a dialogue between Indigenous Elders and Western systems thinkers. This approach mimics the two-row wampum in text form, asking the reader to move between columns to experience resonance. The core argument is that Western culture has become overly reliant on abstraction—removing context and feeling from understanding—which has led to alienation from the natural world. By contrast, Indigenous systems thinking emphasizes the "Good Mind," which incorporates spirit, emotion, and ancestral wisdom. The paper contends that practitioners must move from an ego-centric worldview to an eco-centric one, where sensing, listening to nature, and healing are considered integral to scientific and social practice.
We explore the notion of the need to decolonize systems thinking and awareness. Taking a specifically Indigenous approach to both knowledge creation and knowledge sharing, we look at awareness-based systems change via a Haudenosaunee (Mohawk) two-row visual code. The authors explore the sacred space between Indigenous and non-Indigenous ways of thinking and knowing, to identify pathways for peaceful co-existence of epistemologies. Based on conversations with Haudenosaunee elders and Western systems thinkers, along with data from a DoTS webinar, we identify cross-cultural dialogues as a doorway to healing, to transformation and to spiritual understanding. A reconnection with Mother Earth and with each other is fundamental to disrupting global patterns of trauma and mass corrosion of the spirit.
Sam: Researchers already have language for bridging or braiding knowledge traditions. What does this article add to those earlier approaches?
Alex: Goodchild names those approaches and builds on them. Her particular contribution is to develop relational systems thinking through the two-row teachings, and to make the article’s form enact the argument. Drawing inspiration from Mohawk poet Peter Blue Cloud, it presents conversations in parallel columns.
Sam: Since we’re listening rather than reading, what does that arrangement ask the reader to do?
Alex: Notice their habits of making meaning. Goodchild invites readers to read naturally, then return and move between the columns every few lines. Hear the voices speaking with each other, and notice the feelings that arise. She explicitly says the columns do not neatly divide Indigenous from Western thought.
Sam: So the format interrupts the expectation that the author will resolve everything into a single account. What holds the conversation together instead?
Alex: What the article calls ethical space: a respectful meeting between distinct ways of knowing. “Epistemology” is the academic term for a way of knowing. Following Cree scholar Willie Ermine, Goodchild describes a space where people can step outside their habitual mental frameworks and encounter each other.
Sam: But naming a respectful space doesn’t remove unequal power. Does the article address who usually gets to define legitimate knowledge?
Alex: It does. Goodchild warns that Western knowledge retains disproportionate influence within academia. That is why the conversation is anchored in the Haudenosaunee teachings, rather than treating them as material to fit an existing Western framework. The article also acknowledges that translating oral and spiritual teachings into written English can lose meaning.
Sam: Give me a concrete example of knowing differently. What happens when this moves beyond a statement of principles?
Alex: Goodchild describes studying ecological resilience during her doctorate. She was reading C. S. Holling’s account of systems absorbing disturbance while maintaining relationships. She then asked Anishinaabe language speakers and knowledge keepers how resilience would be understood within their worldview.
Sam: Was she looking for a translation of the scientific definition, or did the conversation change the question?
Alex: It opened a different way of learning. Her cousin Rene Meshake described resilience as a river flowing flexibly through the land. Her sister Eleanor Skead emphasized context, then asked whether Goodchild was near a river. Goodchild was writing beside the Nith River, and Eleanor told her, “she is teaching you.”
Sam: The river becomes a teacher, rather than just an example illustrating a definition. That seems central to the argument about relationships.
Alex: Goodchild made offerings to the river for that teaching. The account joins language, place, practice, and responsibility. Elsewhere, Senge criticizes separating knowing from doing, while Otto Scharmer argues for cultivating attention and the senses. Those arguments meet here without becoming identical claims.
Sam: The spiritual dimension also seems essential. Would describing this simply as better listening miss what the Elders are saying?
Alex: It would. Dan Longboat describes Indigenous knowledge as originating in spirit, and links change to kindness, compassion, caring, and love. Diane Longboat connects healing with spiritual remembrance and restoring the Good Mind. The article’s opening account from Kevin Deer describes personal healing through ceremony and communion with Mother Earth.
Sam: Those are teachings and personal experiences. What evidence does the article offer that this approach changes systems beyond the people having the conversation?
Alex: Its materials are conversations, teachings, personal accounts, and webinar responses. The webinar reached its capacity of 500 participants. They joined from 56 countries. Those counts show reach, not demonstrated effectiveness: the excerpt presents no comparison testing whether this approach produces better systems outcomes.
Sam: And the participant responses tell us how some people experienced the session, not whether institutions subsequently changed.
Alex: That’s the distinction I’d keep. Selected comments describe connection, hope, and a desire to change how one lives. Other comments ask about genocide and the danger of taking concepts out of context. These responses illuminate the dialogue, but they do not establish durable changes in practice.
Sam: There’s also a danger that an appealing framework becomes a technique anyone feels entitled to borrow. What boundaries does Goodchild retain?
Alex: Non-interference, context, and humility remain central. Diane Longboat describes sharing ceremonial support while insisting that visitors do their own work and reconnect with their ancestral homelands. The discussion also draws on Mi’kmaq Elders’ two-eyed seeing: using the strengths of Indigenous and mainstream knowledge without domination or assimilation.
Sam: Given those strengths and limits, who should read the full article, and where should they start?
Alex: Researchers doing cross-cultural inquiry, and practitioners using systems approaches to social or ecological change. Start with “Dialogical Framework: Two-Row Methodology,” then “Equal But Differentiated.” Those sections explain the responsibilities of the encounter and why the reading format matters. Then read the resilience account for a concrete example.
Sam: And for someone outside that work, what should survive after the details fade?
Alex: Treat this as a framework for inquiry and relationship, not a tested recipe for successful intervention. Its challenge is to reconsider both how knowledge is shared and whom systems change should benefit—including non-human life and unborn generations. The line to remember is: working together need not mean making our ways of knowing the same.
Sam: That’s a question to carry into the next collaboration.