Sacred places in transition:An introduction and organisational framework based on cultural ecology and legal pluralism

This chapter introduces Sacred Places in the Arctic and Beyond: Cultural and Existential Transitions, a book in three parts that explores the challenges of governance and the management of sacred places. The theoretical bases of the organisational framework of this book, derived from cultural ecology and legal pluralism, are explained. This book comprises 13 chapters. The 11 core chapters are organised into three sections. Part 1, ‘The Arctic’, comprises four chapters which present case studies from two geographical areas, Fennoscandia and Siberia. Four chapters in Part 2, ‘Broader Contexts’, widen the geographical coverage to include case studies from North America, South America, Africa, and Europe. These chapters describe the cultural contexts and Indigenous cosmologies of sacred places in their respective regions. They raise issues of access to sacred places, destruction, and disruption caused by extractive industries and tourism, and implications of these challenges for their management. Designating sacred places as ‘cultural heritage’ is seen to be problematic. Part 3, ‘New Directions’, comprises three chapters that call for policy reappraisals. They address the problem of how Western-orientated discourses and organisational structures frame legislation about, and management of, sacred places in ways which are seldom compatible with how Indigenous people understand these places and engage with them. In a concluding chapter, major themes from the case studies are integrated with ideas from cultural ecology and legal pluralism into a framework to inform future policy.