The ESE (Space)

You have found a vista. A vista is a site from which a particular view is offered. They allow for a prospective ethics, and to make meaningful decisions, when called upon. Vistas nevertheless do not provide all-knowing insights. They are partial perspectives that need to be reconsidered per series of events.

In this particular case, you are presented with the guiding principles of the ‘Ethical Space of Engagement’ (ESE), as proposed by Sturgeon Lake First Nation elder Willie Ermine.

The ESE, is a “third space” approach, through which differentiated nations or collectives might negotiate ethical encounters with each other in an ‘ethical’ space that belongs to neither. This third space emerges both through principled practices (like for example negotiating terms of engagement), and as a guiding model for willing partners to re-position themselves in-equitable-encounter (Ermine, 2007; Ermine 2015; Indigenous Circle of Experts 2018). When taking the ESE as a guiding frame, ethics are no longer a pre-emptive box to tick nor a static end-goal. Ethical research is rather performed as a dynamic practice of encountering which requires ongoing negotiation.

Figure 1: The Ethical Space Diagram, originally published by the IISAAK OLAM foundation (2019). Re-used with permission.

The concept of Aesthetic Encounter, as I used it in my research, holds resonance with the ESE in different ways. Return to the main cut, to learn in which ways.

Return to Cut 2: Aesthetic Action and the ESE