This is a call for contributions to a forthcoming book entitled: “Indigenous Perspectives on Living with Sacred Heritage (2016)”.
This book will look to the notion of a sacred site as defined by its indigenous custodians. As such, sacred sites can be natural or human-made, can be situated in any geographic location, can be closed or open to non-indigenous visitors, and can exist inside or outside of international or national designations such as protected areas or conservation zones. The primary interest of the volume is to provide a platform for indigenous custodians to explain how they view and treat the sacred through a written account that is available to a global audience.
Indigenous views about the sacred may differ from those held at the international level. At the international level, sacred sites are defined in different ways. This volume seeks to allow expression of indigenous views of the sacred in order to illuminate similarities and differences of indigenous ways from existing international perspectives in both definition and approach. Therefore, chapters should cover the following issues:
1. Description of the indigenous sacred site and its significance to its indigenous custodians,
2. Presentation of the indigenous governance and management system used by indigenous custodians over the sacred site, and
3. Discussion of the major concerns held by indigenous custodians about their management over the sacred site.
Indigenous Custodians and their supporters are explaining their points of view on the governace and management of sacred natural sites during the 2012 World Conservation Congress at Jeju Island, South korea. Photo: Bas Verschuuren.
Towards this purpose, the proposed volume seeks contributions that provide examples of indigenous sacred sites governance and management, with each example treated as a separate chapter. The goal is to highlight indigenous approaches and present concerns regarding sacred sites management. The preference is to encourage indigenous authors, particularly indigenous custodians of sacred sites, but all voices that further the goals of the proposed book are invited. We therefore welcome joint authorship, especially those involving indigenous custodians.
Authors are asked to first indicate expressions of interest by 1st of October 2016. Manuscripts of the papers will be submitted early 2017. The book will be compiled and edited by Jonathan Liljeblad (PhD, MD) Marcia Leuzinger (PhD) and Bas Verschuuren (Coordinator for the Sacred Natural Sites Initiative)
Enquiries and submissions should be directed to Jonathan Liljeblad at jonathanliljeblad@gmail.com
The full call for contributions can be downloaded here.
