Comprehensive Policy-Brief to the EU Commission: Roadmap to Decolonial Arctic Research

• Main Authors: Herrmann, Thora Martina, Brunner Alfani, Francesca, Chahine, Anne, Doering, Nina, Dudeck, Stephan, Elster, Josef, Fjellheim, Eva, Henriksen, Jan Erik, Hermansen, Nina, Homberg, Aslak, Kramvig, Britt, Keskitalo, Anja Márjá Nystø, Omma, Elle Merete, Saxinger, Gertrude, Scheepstra, Annette, van der Schot, Jorrit
• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Published: University of Oulu, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research- UFZ, The Indigenous Voices (IVO) research group – Álgoálbmogii jienat, Arctic University of Norway UiT, Saami Council 2023
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences; sociology & anthropology; Arctic; Northern Sámi; Sámi
• Online Access: https://boris.unibe.ch/195160/1/EU-Roadmap_web%20version.pdf; https://boris.unibe.ch/195160/; https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/detail/o:1653557

The CO-CREATE network—a group of Indigenous and non-Indige- nous, academic and non-academic researchers, activists, and commu- nity members from the Arctic and European research institutions—work together to improve research relationships across ways of knowing in Arctic research, which often still operates within a framework embedded in colonial structures and methodologies. The network emerged after a workshop on Ethics and Methods in transformative Arctic Research (WEMA I), organised by the Institute of Advanced Sustainability Stud- ies (IASS)1 and the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in the fall of 2020 (for more information, see www.arctic-ethics. org). The network has since grown organically and now covers all Arctic regions.2 Over the past two and a half years, the CO-CREATE network has published an article on research funding in Arctic research (Doer- ing et al., 2022), organised several workshops and conference sessions engaging with different aspects of co-creation at international Arctic conferences and other events,3 and co-organised a second international Ethics and Methods Workshop (WEMA II). During WEMA II, a video project was co-conceptualised with partners from Ikaarvik, an independ- ent, Northern Indigenous-led non-profit (www.ikaarvik.org), bringing Indigenous voices from Arctic communities into the workshop to include a wider diversity of experiences with and views on Arctic research. Currently, the CO-CREATE network is engaged in the DÁVGI-project— Dávgi meaning “bow” in the Northern Sámi language—funded by the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. The DÁVGI-project aims to build networks for knowledge exchange and bridge academic science with Indigenous knowledge through co-creative research to strengthen bio-cultural diver- sity and Indigenous peoples’ rights in the Arctic.