Sara Fusco
This article applies the concept of Environmental Restorative Justice (ERJ) to examine how constitutional law can reconcile environmental protection with Sámi collective rights within Norway’s legal framework. It centres on intergenerational equity to show how land, culture, and development rights are deeply connected for Indigenous Peoples. Positioned within the context of the green transition, the article highlights how emerging environmental policies, while aimed at ecological restoration, can produce systemic tensions and cultural displacement when imposed without Indigenous participation. It argues that environmental justice requires recognizing Indigenous Peoples as rights-holders, whose customary norms and relationships with land must inform legal and environmental systems. In this context, environmental restorative justice offers a pathway to rebalancing legal systems in ways that honour Indigenous sovereignty and the continuity of their lifeways. The paper analyses the Fosen Vind dispute in Norway to illustrate the conflicts that may arise when environmental policies disregard Indigenous cultural survival. It proposes three evaluative criteria – distributed-management of natural resources, community engagement, and the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in environmental impact assessments – to assess the enforcement of core international environmental principles into constitutional frameworks. The article demonstrates how constitutional law can serve as an interface between international obligations and the domestic protection of Indigenous rights, advocating for participatory governance models that align ecological sustainability with the preservation of Indigenous heritage.
Krista Petäjäjärvi & Maria Huhmarniemi
This study defines art intermediation as an emerging professional field that facilitates cross-sector collaboration and supports sustainability-driven artistic practices. Art intermediaries – such as agents, managers and art institutions – initiate and enable new modes of working for artists across different sectors. The research was conducted as arts-based action research at Boden Business Park, Sweden, located in a municipality undergoing rapid transformation due to several large-scale green industry developments. Drawing on a pilot adaptation of an artist residency model within this business environment, the study investigates the role of art intermediaries by analysing their practical function in a sustainability-focused collaboration between artists and a company. In this pilot, a public art institution acted as the intermediary organisation, seeking a cross-sector partnership to address sustainability challenges. The research data consists of survey responses and interviews with the artist, the intermediary and a representative of the business park. Also, the artworks exhibited in the residency are presented and discussed. The analysis shows that art intermediaries play a critical role in integrating artists into cross-sector collaborations. By acting as bridge builders, they support artists in navigating expanded professional landscapes and in the meaningful incorporation of artistic work into workplace communities. The findings highlight the essential role of art intermediaries in enabling artistic engagement that goes beyond traditional contexts, fostering innovation and community development through cross-sector synergies. The study calls for further research and development to further decolonise art and strengthen intermediary organisations, particularly in the Arctic context.
Karolina Sikora
This article reflects on the ethical, and methodological complexities of conducting fieldwork in the Russian North in a period of heightened uncertainty. While the prevailing assumption in Western academia is that field collaboration in Russia has become entirely impossible, this paper complicates that narrative by drawing on the author’s field experiences between 2022 and 2024. Rather than offering a generalisable model or prescriptive guidance, the article explores how fieldwork unfolds at a level of interpersonal interaction in unpredictable circumstances. Three assumptions are critically examined: that borders are closed; that academic exchange is no longer viable; and that local interlocutors need protection from engagement. These assumptions, while rooted in legitimate concern, risk oversimplifying the situated agency, strategic discretion, and ethical deliberation exercised by both researchers and field partners. Through narrative accounts and analytic reflection, the paper shows how trust, discretion, and flexibility can – under specific circumstances – make continued fieldwork possible, though not without emotional and ethical strain. The article contributes to current debates on research ethics, risk, and presence in sensitive contexts. It argues for a more relational understanding of ethical responsibility – one that acknowledges ambiguity, respects local agency, and resists binary frameworks of engagement versus disengagement. Ultimately, it calls for sustained reflection on how knowledge is produced, withheld, or silenced in times of uncertainty.
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