Why are we Talking Inside?

Abstract

In this article, I utilize semifictional dialogue as a means of reflecting on my Ph.D. research on traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). Although my findings were ultimately published in The Academy of Management Journal, the research, defense, and publication process raised a number of interesting issues, including ambiguities and miscommunications that emerged when I tried to communicate and share my findings with academic and business audiences. These reflections are presented in a creative semifictional format that privileges the dialogical basis of Indigenous oral tradition and storytelling. By using this medium, I hope to deepen our understanding and appreciation of TEK as an interesting ecologically embedded approach to management and also to raise and reflect on the validity and implications of using this type of ethnographic representation within organizational research.