Sensorial Encounters of Memory and Mapping

Abstract

Without knowing the language, the cultural nuances, or the culture of education specific to the region, the act of discovering places of identity and cultural resonance held unique significance. While being situated in Beijing, China, teaching at Beijing Foreign Studies University, this chapter discusses my educational journey with Chinese students who were eager to learn about visual art. On this journey, I took on the ontology that adapts Two-eyed seeing, understood traditionally, an Indigenous approach that describes understanding the world from two cultural perspectives. I adapted it here to describe a woven connectedness between my culture and that of my students in China. It requires generative learning to see in/through both cultures. This approach hinges on the immersive experience embodied in the concept of in-relation to, where relational connections, personal narratives, and identity are at the forefront in translation, replacing a hierarchy of knowledge systems with a process of walking forward together.