Article in The Montpelier Bridge: Two-Eyed Seeing: Abenaki Speaker Series

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Darlene Kascak and Vera Longtoe Sheehan at the American Institute for Native American Studies.
Left, Darlene Kascak (Schaghticoke Tribal Nation), Education Director of the Institute for American Indian Studies and Traditional Native American Storyteller, with Vera Longtoe Sheehan (Elnu Abenaki Tribe), Executive Director, Vermont Abenaki Artists Association and Abenaki Arts and Education Center, in the IAIS exhibit gallery with Nebizun: Water is Life. Photo courtesy of the Institute for American Indian Studies.

In honor of World Water Day on March 22, the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association (VAAA) is presenting “Kwanitekw (Connecticut River): The Sustainer of Life.” The event is the third in the organization’s “Two-Eyed Speaker Series” that started Feb. 21. The term “Two-Eyed Seeing,” was coined by Mi’kmaw Nation Elder Albert Marshall, Vermont Abenaki Artists Association Director Vera Longtoe Sheehan said in an email to The Bridge. “As Marshall explains, “Etuaptmumk — Two-Eyed Seeing . . . refers to learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous knowledges and ways of knowing, and from the other eye with the strengths of Western knowledges . . . read more