Eating Frybread and Gathering Indigenous Knowledge: A Portrait of Paradox

In this article, a non-Indigenous scholar and his Indigenous cultural mentor showcase their kinship by weaving their histories together to take the reader on a cultural journey. The story challenges majoritarian tales by combining elements of critical Indigenous research methodologies with narrative portraiture. The story is a first-person accounting told through the eyes of the non-Indigenous scholar as he explores the complexities surrounding adjoining worldviews to witness and document the transfer of an Indigenous ceremonial bundle. Throughout their journey, the scholar and his mentor encounter several profound paradoxes that test the boundaries between cultures, knowledge systems, and personal identity, revealing the complexity and relational depth required to walk between different ways of knowing.