Over the past decade, scholars involved in Indigenous research have placed significant emphasis on decolonizing of research processes and on research ethics. Many research communities, however, have a restricted knowledge about ongoing debates on research ethics in Indigenous contexts.
The main academic objective of the seminar is to bring together researchers from various disciplines and share knowledge about research ethics in Indigenous research, including experiences with the establishment of specifi c committees and guidelines. In parts of the world, as for ex. in Canada, the U.S., Aotearoa and Australia, Indigenous peoples and their scholars have long-term experiences in such matters. These experiences will form the basis for the presentations and d iscussions. Another objective is to discuss the need for designing of ethical guidelines for Sami research and the possibilities for establishing of a Sami research ethical committee. Aili Keskitalo, the president of the Norwegian Sami Parliament, declare d at the conference of the Norwegian Research Council in April 2006 that the Sami Parliament has discussed needs for the establishment of such a committee in Sápmi.
Thematic framework
The seminar discussions will focus on ethical guidelines in general an d their practical usage in the social sciences, humanities and legal studies. The politics of research and knowledge will be in the background of the discussions, however this should not be forming the main content of the presentations. The seminar will f ocus on various aspects of research ethics, such as consent, respect, participation, benefits, ownership, restrictions and delimitations within field work and data collection, knowledge production, dissemination and use of research outcomes etc. We will a lso try to demonstrate how Indigenous ethics can benefit both Sami research and research in general, and how an emphasis on such topics can benefit the development of Sami and Indigenous research institutions.