This paper evaluates the method Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) from the perspectives of Indigenous methodologies and Indigenous standpoint, in order to identify some strengths and limitations of using S-LCA in Indigenous contexts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used to measure environmental impacts connected with all stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. S-LCA is a methodology designed to include the social aspects of sustainability in the LCA methodology. S-LCA emphasizes stakeholder involvement and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) S-LCA guidelines (2020) lists Indigenous communities as possible stakeholders. With a focus on Indigenous communities in the Arctic region we also include comparative aspects from Australia to generate new conceptualizations and understandings. The paper concludes that S-LCA has the potential to facilitate opposing worldviews and with some further developments can be a valuable methodology for Indigenous contexts.
Sources are vital to research in the humanities. Yet their waters rarely run clear. They may demand certain skills -linguistic, historical, statistical -to penetrate them. They might lurk in incomplete catalogues or may branch off from other sources. They may be known but difficult to collect or filter. They might also be created out of confluence between researchers and research participants, for example through interviews. They may surface uncomfortable questions: are they representative; are they reliable; do they shore our conclusions? They may also be muddied with complex ethical issues.In what follows, we, the guest editors of this thematic collection of Kulturella Perspektiv, offer two reflections on working with our own sources, before turning to the content and context of the included texts.
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