Sacred Places in the Arctic and Beyond: Cultural and Existential Transitions

An associate member of the Las Casas Institute, Dr Dawid Bunikowski, has published a co-edited collection that brings together indigenous and nonindigenous scholars, rightsholders, and practitioners to explore the status and management of sacred places in the arctic. A philosopher of Law and a scholar of Law and Religion, Dr Bunikowski, along with Professor Emeritus Patrick Dillon at the University of Exeter, and Postdoctoral Researcher Francis Joy at the Arctic Centre, released Sacred Places in the Arctic and Beyond. Cultural and Existential Transitions with Routledge on the 22nd of May, 2026. It acknowledges the critical functions and roles that sacred places play in connection with local people, traditions, beliefs, and practices, as identity markers, places of cultural transmission and memory, and locations that support ecosystems and biodiversity. This interdisciplinary book consists of three parts: ‘The Arctic’, ‘Broader contexts’, and ‘New direction’. It includes many case studies, but also recommendations for future policy integrated with ideas from cultural ecology and legal pluralism.

Sacred places of indigenous peoples are often overlooked when it comes to legal and practical protection. However, these sites hold profound spiritual significance for communities whose beliefs, traditions, and customary laws are deeply connected to them. For example, in the Sámi tradition, a sacred site is called a sieidi. It might be a unique stone formation, an island, or a body of water. Such places are occasionally desecrated or damaged by tourists. In many indigenous cosmologies, the land is considered both a spiritual and a physical entity.

As Dawid notes, “Generally, we focused on indigenous sacred places, including those of the Sámi, the Nenets, Native Americans, sub-Saharan Africans, and the Guyanese Lokono-Arawak. We also analysed the case of the Uffington White Horse in England. My view is that these places deserve the same protection as Christian, Jewish, or Muslim sacred sites.”

Sacred Places in the Arctic and Beyond. Cultural and Existential Transitions. Francis Joy, Patrick Dillon, Dawid Bunikowski (eds), Routledge 2026 https://www.routledge.com/Sacred-Places-in-the-Arctic-and-Beyond-Cultural-and-Existential-Transitions/Joy-Dillon-Bunikowski/p/book/9781032973739

For further information, please contact: Dawid Bunikowski, dawid.bunikowski@uef.fi