Etuaptmumk

Etuaptmumk (Ay-doo-ap-duh-mumk) is knowledge coexistence for the benefit of all people. It is a Mi’kmaw Guiding Principle coined and developed by Mi’kmaq Elders and knowledge keepers Albert and Mardena Marshall. It rejects the idea of dominance, tokenism, bias, and the integration of perspectives to allow for coexistence. To practice Etuaptmumk we all have to see that our knowledge systems can overlap. however, also remain distinct. It is a philosophical concept, not a research method, that guides Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to work together and question if their respect for each other’s perspectives is stronger than their reliance on their own viewpoint.

“We do not throw away or relinquish ideas or concepts if we can find good in them, we keep the good for the mutual benefit of all.”

Etuaptmumk is a fundamental piece of the MBI project. It provides a path to allow all MBI partners to practice and show that respect, relationship, reverence, reciprocity, ritual, repetition and responsibility can, and should, exist alongside the scientific method (hypothesis), data collection, and testing, model theory and construction. The principle brings everyone in the project to a place where they can begin to practice the seven sacred gifts of life which are love, respect, courage, honesty, wisdom, humility and truth. (See More on the Mi’kmaw understanding of the Seven Sacred Gifts of Life through the Teachings of Elder Murdena Marshall w/ Graphics by Tom Johnson)

Msit No’kmaq (Mm-sih Noh-goh-mah) means “All My Relations” and expresses the connectivity of all things. Msit No’kmaq is fundamental to understanding that knowledge assimilation or domination is untenable and leads to extraction and destruction. It shows us that Mi’kmaw views come from participation within nature’s relationships, rather than dominance, and how we can understand them to protect and preserve relationships for future generations.

Through Etuaptmumk and Msit No’kmaq we understand that, because everything is connected, we need not disregard a good idea for the sake of a bias toward our own beliefs and thoughts.

I personally understand Etuaptmumk through three equal tenets, or pillars:

• Collaboration, working together towards a common goal, everyone lends a hand, as their ability and capacity allow, in progress towards the goal;
• Inclusion, allowing people and their ideas and ideology to be heard and explored impartially and without bias towards their own perspective as “the right and only way” forward;
• Sharing, expecting no return except the mere continuation of a relationship, which we understand as essential to a successful community and the foundation for positive and enriching relationships.

Generally, Western views seek to understand how the universe works, and then, and I say this with the utmost respect, try to find control or domain over those things that we think we understand. Indigenous views come from participation in the universes relationships and how we can understand them insofar as we can protect and preserve those relationships for future generations.

About the Author

Ivan J. White (he/him) is an emissary for his culture, heritage, and people. He works as the Indigenous Education Specialist for Memorial University in St. John’s.

Please note that this is my own (Ivan J. White) interpretation of Etuaptmumk informed through personal experience, reflections, and reading/researching its application in other fields. I experience it from a very different perspective in relation to its creator for the most part. Elder Albert Marshall was able to conceptualize this concept despite the weight of surviving residential school and I cannot fathom how much patience, courage and wisdom that had to have taken.