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Bricks and ThreadsAnalogies for different sets of waysof knowing/beingIn this project we have tested differentframings for the distinct sensibilitiesinvolved in the highly charged context ofsettler–Indigenous relations and have foundthat a distinction between transcendenceand immanence offered a useful tool for analyses of recurrenttensions, as well as possibilities for new forms of engagement.A social cartography using the metaphor of construction bricks(transcendence) and knitting threads (immanence) proved veryuseful in engaging Indigenous artists in conversations aboutthe tensions of working in non-Indigenous institutions and theessential steps that could enable possibilities for new forms ofcollaboration. We present the distinction between bricks andthreads in this section. Like all metaphors, this one is partial andlimited, and thus we also include several caveats.Brick sense and sensibilities stand for a set of ways of beingthat emphasize individuality, fixed form and linear time; where the world is experienced through concepts thatdescribe the form of things and places them systematically inordered hierarchical structures;13

where the value of something is measured against itscapacity, achievement or potentiality to “move thingsforward”; and where self-worth is dependent on external validation.Thread sense and sensibilities stand for a set of ways ofbeing that emphasize inter-wovenness, shape-shifting flexibilityand layered time; where the world is experienced through sensorial eventsinvolving movement, rhythm, sound and metaphor; where every “thing” (including humans, non-humans and theland) is a living entity; where every entity is valued for its intrinsic (insufficient andindispensable) inherent worth within an integrative anddynamic whole; and where their self-worth is grounded on their connectionwith something beyond the individual self, but also foundwithin it.ImplicationsWays of beingBrick sensibilities are goal- and progress-oriented. Theydemand that we share the same convictions about reality inorder to engineer proper political, ideological and institutionalstructures that will in turn engender adequate social relations(i.e., adequate conditions will build adequate institutions thatwill secure adequate relationships). The focus on engineeringreality is knowledge-based, methodological and grounded onconsensual decision making. Human purpose can be imagined14 Towards Braiding

as building monuments and walls that will last and leave a traceable legacy that attests to the worth and virtue of the individualsinvolved in contributing towards the imagined idea of progress.Conversely, thread sensibilities are oriented towardsrelationality. They require that we sense entanglement in orderto weave genuine relationships, which will in turn commandresponsibility for collective wellbeing as a grounding force foradequate (new) political and institutional systems (i.e. adequaterelationships will build adequate capacities to work together thatwill secure adequate processes). The focus on collective wellbeing invites the surrender of individual entitlements for a greatergood and calls for a level of ongoing stretch-discomfort within acontainer of relational interdependence that is unconditional inits generosity over time, but not open to abuse. Human purposeis associated with respecting the unique medicines that eachbeing carries and integrating these medicines to enable thecontinuity of life. In contrast with the brick sensibility’s preoccupation of leaving a legacy, the thread sensibility focuses onecological sustainability and aims at having minimal impact onthe world (e.g. leaving no footprints).Ways of knowingBrick sensibilities take language to be something that describesand indexes the world. Knowledge is something that can bediscovered and/or transmitted, and accumulated. This accumulation is documented in writing, therefore knowledge can bemostly found in books and formal institutions. Knowledge ismeasured according to its capacity for accuracy in describing,predicting or building effectively, and is something people feelentitled to, although they may need to pay for it.Bricks and Threads 15

Thread sensibilities take language to be both practicaland metaphorical. Language can never describe the unknowable wholeness of the world, but it is extremely useful to movethings in the world. In this sense, both language and knowledgeare “entities” whose impact is evaluated not by their accuracyin describing something, but in their impact in the world (i.e.,what they enable and what they foreclose). In this case, knowledge can come from many places (the land, altered states ofconsciousness, non-humans) and is something that is earned(not an entitlement).CommunicationBrick sensibilities tend to communicate through “thick scripts”of normativity, protagonism (individualistic heroism), reasonand virtue that take different forms in different contexts. Threadsensibilities tend to communicate through modes of self-effacement, relationship-weaving, intro/inter-spection and metaphorthat are “thin-scripted” as they are grounded in the unknown andunknowable.In modern institutions/relationships, which are ordered bybrick sensibilities, thread communication and sensibilities tend tobe muted/rendered unintelligible. Therefore, those from the threadspace who want to “be heard” in those institutions need to learnto translate their message into the mode of communication thatis legible to the dominant brick sensibility. This is not only deeplyfrustrating, but also often ineffective, pushing the orientationtowards a non-generative manifestation. Thread practices are alsooften selectively adopted/instrumentalized by brick orientationsas a means to improve effectiveness, to enact “inclusion” or as abranding “currency” of diversity, decolonization or Indigeneity.16 Towards Braiding

Important caveats There are a variety of brick sensibilities and a variety ofthread sensibilities, but it is important to notice that thesevariations are broadly clustered around different propositionsabout the nature of knowledge and reality (and the relationship between the two). The sensibilities of both bricks and threads can manifest ingenerative and non-generative ways. The universalization of bricks or threads is highly problematicas it makes invisible the limitations of the sensibility thatseeks universalization and attempts to delegitimize and/orerase the other sensibility. Social groups that depend on a deep relationship with theland as a living entity tend to lean towards the thread sensibility. Social groups that see the land as an object, resourceor property lean towards the brick sensibility. Indigenous groups are known to work with and throughthreads, while colonialism is known to violently imposebricks. While it is important to highlight that settler–Indigenousrelations are grounded on the harm that bricks have inflictedon threads, it is also important to complicate this relationshipby acknowledging that many Indigenous groups and individuals have adopted brick-related ways of being and a fewsettlers have developed senses and sensibilities that enablethem “to thread” (and some are penalized for that). Despite threads being used in political and academicdiscourse to characterize the struggle of Indigenous peoples,it is problematic to directly or universally equate IndigeneityBricks and Threads 17

with threads, partly because of historical circumstances thathave privileged the power and allure of the bricks. For those over-socialized in contexts where the brick sensibility is the universalized norm and perceived to be rational,neutral, universally desirable, and objective, it is very difficultto grasp that other people (coming from a thread sensibility) could feel the world very differently. As a result, withinbrick spaces threading is perceived as wrong, disingenuous,irrational or impossible. The integrity of the thread sensibility is often compromisedby the institutional demands and perceived entitlements ofthe brick sensibility that are normalized and naturalized as“common sense”. Brick sensibilities tend to intrumentalize thread methodologies (ways of doing) for their purpose, when convenient,often without the ability to recognize or to honour the waysof knowing and being where these methodologies camefrom. When brick sensibilities engage in processes of inclusion,they generally require threads to be turned into bricks, sothat they can become intelligible in the brick wall. Acts of transgression that challenge brick normativitiesare not necessarily a manifestation of the thread sensibilities: bricks often manifest as a competition of differentnormativities.18 Towards Braiding

BraidingWe define braiding as a practiceyet-to-come located in a spacein-between and at the edges ofbricks and threads, aiming to calibrate eachsensibility towards a generative orienta-tion and inter-weave their strands to create something new andcontextually relevant, while not erasing differences, historicaland systemic violences, uncertainty, conflict, paradoxes andcontradictions.Braiding is not a form of synthesis in which two approachesare combined in order to create a new, third possibility to replacethem both. Braiding is also not the result of selective, “saladbar”-style engagements with both sides, taking the “best” ormost convenient elements of each and combining them; nor is itthe result of an antagonism in which one side emerges triumphant over the other. Instead, braiding is premised on respectingthe continued internal integrity of both the brick and threadorientations, even as neither side is static or homogenous,and even as both sides might be transformed in the process ofbraiding. Braiding opens up different possibilities for engage-21

ment, without guarantees about what might emerge from thoseengagements. Braiding is not an endpoint, but rather an ongoingand emergent process. It is not possible to determine what braiding will look like before it occurs. In fact, we propose three “stepstowards braiding” that need to happen before any braiding iseven possible. They are described in the next section.Before braiding can happenAlthough brick and thread sensibilities appear to be incommensurable, it is at the edge-interface of each of these orientationsin their generative manifestation that the potential for newimaginings and adjacent possibilities in braiding emerges. Inthe collaborative processes with Indigenous and non-Indigenousparticipants that ground the development of this document, weshared the brick and threads metaphor and asked participantsto identify what could support or hinder practices of braiding. These conversations inform the “steps towards braiding”presented below. Before braiding can even start to happen, threelong steps are necessary:1.a deep understanding of historical and systemic harmsand their snowball effects needs to become “commonsense,” and not something to be avoided, dismissed, orminimized out of a fear of hopelessness, guilt or shame;2.a language that makes visible the generative andnon-generative manifestations of bricks and threadsneeds to be developed, without becoming rigid,prescriptive or accusatory;22 Towards Braiding

3.a set of principled commitments towards the “long-haul”of this process needs to be in place, including a commitment to continue the work even/especially when thingsbecome difficult and uncomfortable.We offer a cautionary note about a common misreading ofthese steps, which assumes that achieving these steps equatesto actually doing braiding work. In fact, these are only theminimum necessary conditions that must be in place in order forbraiding to even become possible; these conditions are not thebraiding work itself, and further, these conditions alone will notnecessarily lead to braiding. As well, these steps might need tobe continuously revisited, as we tend to forget them when thingsget difficult. We expand on each of the “steps towards braiding”below.Step 1: Facing and digesting the implicationsof historical and systemic harmThe political, material, institutional, and cognitive impositionsand attempts to universalize the sensibility and weight of bricks,and to eliminate and/or instrumentalize the threads, is ongoingand has lasting effects. Indigenous participants identified that itis extremely common to see liberal organizations creating conditional spaces for Indigenous inclusion that foreground the bricksensibility as a default disposition towards shared futures that isnormalized and perceived as natural. In other words, threads areincluded into the organization on the condition that they contortthemselves into the shape of a brick. This includes, for example,organizations expecting: that the inclusion of Indigenous peopleBraiding 23

will placate criticisms of colonialism; that Indigenous staff/artists will be able to mediate the relationship of the organizationwith all Indigenous communities; that Indigenous staff/artistsand their communities will be willing to “move forward” towardsthe idealized future anticipated by the organization; that Indigenous staff/artists and communities will be grateful for the opportunity to perform selected, non-threatening aspects of theirculture when the organization deems appropriate; that Indigenous staff/artists and communities should have a commitmentto harmonious relationships; and that Indigenous staff/artistsshould perform loyalty to the organization by not challenging theterms of inclusion.Participants also identified that the current political andintellectual climate makes it possible for criticisms of conditionalinclusion to be articulated at this specific historical moment,something that might not have been possible ten years ago.Rather than suggest that these criticisms or the frustrations thatare expressed within them are new, we suggest that there hasbeen an increased awareness of conflictual settler–Indigenousrelationships in recent years, as the excerpts from the poem,“Academic Indian Job Description: Have to Know” by CashAhenakew, illustrates.Academic Indian job description: have to knowby Cash Ahenakewhave to knowwestern knowledge and educationplus the critique ofwestern knowledge and education24 Towards Braiding

have to knowindigenous “culture” and educationplus the critique and the critique of the critique ofindigenous “culture” and educationhave to knowhow to embody expected authenticityand how to embody expected critiqueof expected authenticityhave to knowwhen and where to use indigenous literatureand when and where to use the Western canonto build legitimacy and credibility for indigenous thoughtand experiencehave to knowwhen to vilify, to romanticize, to essentializewhen to apologize, to complexify, to compromisewhen and who to be accountable to and whyhave to knowwhen, where and how to performcompetence, confidence, boldness, heroic rebelliousnessand humility, compliance and gratitude for the opportunityBraiding 25

have to knowhow to be an intellectual, an activist, a therapist, and anentrepreneurhow to improve retention, attrition and social mobilityand how to stop exploitation and ecological disasterhave to knowhow to educate “my people,” liberal allies, immigrants, rednecks, colleagueshow to relate to gang members, business sponsors, elders,politicianshow to speak with the crows, the trees, the sea, and the mediahave to knowhow to solve, how to fix, how to spell and to pronouncecolonialism, capitalism, racism, slavery, patriarchyhetero-normativity, ableism, elitism, and anthropocentrismhave to knowhow to Indigenize and decolonizedisciplines, protocols, ethics and methodologiesto make non-indigenous people feel good about their workhave to knowhow to live with the guilt of having credentials, a secure joband the awareness of compliance with a rigged systembuilt on the broken back and wounded soul of your familymembersApply online now26 Towards Braiding

As the poem demonstrates, when “including” other perspectives brick sensibilities rarely question their own presumeduniversalism. Thus, the act of inclusion in itself becomes ameans for the brick sensibility to reclaim universality: whereasit once excluded difference, now it embraces it and therebybecomes all the more totalizing. What remains unquestionedhere is not only who decides the terms of inclusion, who benefits, and how, but also the assumption that exclusion fromuniversalism is the primary basis of colonial relationships and,thus, that inclusion into the brick sensibility is the only viableand desirable means of addressing colonial harm. When theseassumptions are not questioned, diverse/Indigenous bodies areinstrumentalized within a brick framework for the benefit oforganizations, and thread visions, futurities, and sensibilities aresilenced once again.Because the brick orientation sets the terms of inclusion andmaintains the power to issue (and rescind) the invitation to beincluded, this approach to change does not disrupt and in factreinforces colonial desires and entitlements. For instance, theperceived entitlement to authority and leadership is reinforcedwhen those with a brick orientation retain the right to adjudicatewho is included (and excluded) and under what conditions theyare invited and allowed to stay. The perceived entitlement tosimplistic, readily available solutions is reinforced when thosewith a brick orientation presume that including an Indigenousstaff member alone will address centuries of systemic colonialviolence and absolve their organization of complicity in it. Theperceived entitlement to have one’s benevolence affirmed isreinforced when those with a brick orientation present themselves as generous for including difference, and believe thisBraiding 27

entitles them to redemption for colonial violence. Despiteor perhaps precisely because of these colonial continuities,“inclusion” is often mobilized as a

10 Towards Braiding meaningful in peoples' lives, in our communities and societies. This collaboration involved several modes of relational engage-ment with Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists, scholars, and communities, including visits, gatherings and consultations,