Indigenous Peoples and Ethical Guidelines: Are Law and Ethics in Conflict in the Age of Digitalisation?

The ethical aspects of indigenous research have gained notable attention over the past couple of decades, and lately, digitally opening up the collections of archives and museums has also led to discussions in these fields. To manage historical power imbalances and misappropriations, many indigenous communities have developed ethical guidelines. This chapter examines the case of the Digital Access to Sámi Heritage Archives project, through which ethical guidelines were developed for the use of the developed service. The chapter additionally asks the following question: What can these ethical guidelines tell us about the law and its potential conflicts with indigenous views on ethics? This chapter argues that indigenous communities in the selected contexts have similar concerns regarding ethics. Moreover, in the Finnish context, these concerns can be connected to shortcomings in state law for protecting the interests and views of the Sámi people.