Month: February 2013

International conference about Indigenous Sacred Sites in the Arctic

On By arcticcentreIn All, Announcements, conferences, Indigenous Peoples, Spirituality1 Comment

Sacred sites mainThe Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland will organize an international conference on indigenous sacred sites in the Arctic. The conference “Protecting the sacred: Recognition of Sacred Sites of Indigenous Peoples for Sustaining Nature and Culture in Northern and Arctic Regions” will be held in Rovaniemi and Pyhätunturi, Finland, on September 11–13.

The conference gathers for the first time in Finland sacred sites custodians, scientists, indigenous people’s organizations, policy makers and other interested people, to talk and better recognize, legally protect, conserve and manage Sacred Sites and Sanctuaries of Indigenous Peoples in Northern and Arctic regions. Participants will come and speak related to the entire circumpolar area.

Besides academic and practitioner discussions, the conference also aims to produce recommendations for policy-making related to Sacred Sites and Sanctuaries in the Arctic as well as start a participatory educational research project to advance the transmission of spiritually relevant culturally embedded knowledge and practices related to sacred sites to younger generations. The aim is to make also a publication on the protection of the Sacred Sites and Sanctuaries in Northern and Arctic regions.

Abstracts and contact:
– the conference website is at http://www.arcticcentre.org/sacredsites2013
– or write an email to leena.heinamaki(at)ulapland.fi or thora.martina.herrmann(at)umontreal.ca
– or post your question here as a comment to this blog entry and we will get back to you

 

Mining and local people in the North

On By fstammleIn All, conferences, Extractive Industries, Fennoscandia, Indigenous Peoples, Sámi3 Comments

Some of our team were recently at the Jokkmokk winter conference, which is held in connection to the famous Jokkmokk winter market, an important event in the Sámi yearly cycle for the last 400 years.The Jokkmokk winter market has been held already more than 400 years. Now mining comes closer to this place too, causing hot debates

The Jokkmokk winter market has been held already more than 400 years. Now mining comes closer to this place too, causing hot debates

 

At the conference which had a very policy and environmentalist NGO-related character, a

Continue reading “Mining and local people in the North” →

Simeon Buckley. Presentation in the Arctic Centre: Kangaroo Burgers and Supporting Indigenous People

On By arcticcentreIn All, Indigenous Peoples2 Comments

(Simeon Buckley is a master’s student from RMIT University (Melbourne, Australia) and is working as a research assistant to Anna Stammler-Gossmann on a research project – Coastal communities of the Barents region and marine resources use: Seascape and fishing rights.
I chose the topic of kangaroo harvesting as it is an interesting comparison to traditional fishing rights of coastal Sami people. I would like to write my masters thesis on the topic of indigenous involvement in kangaroo harvesting and developing fair trade kangaroo products.

How indigenous is kangaroo hunting in Australia? Can this be a viable livelihood to support indigenous cultures? Photo from John Schreiber’s blog

I opened the presentation with a two quote that highlight the environmental difference of Australia compared with Europe.
“This land is cursed; the animals hop not run, birds run, not fly and the swans are black not white”. So wrote one of the first Europeans to set foot on Australia, Dirk Hartog, as he sailed away from the west coast in 1688. (Hartog in Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia 2013) Continue reading “Simeon Buckley. Presentation in the Arctic Centre: Kangaroo Burgers and Supporting Indigenous People” →