University of Lapland

About: University of Lapland is a education organization based out in Rovaniemi, Finland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Arctic & Context (language use). The organization has 665 authors who have published 1870 publications receiving 39129 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Rovaniemi & Lapin yliopisto.

The power of silence: silencing as a method of preventing whistleblowing

Abstract: The article discusses silencing as an obstacle to whistleblowing in the field of social work. Silencing seeks to prevent reporting or discussion of wrongdoing at work, including illegal and unethic...

"We the Resilient": Colonizing Indigeneity in the Era of Trump

Abstract: This article addresses the functions of resilience in the political struggles of indigenous peoples against colonialism. In particular it analyses the discourse of indigenous resilience, which has ...

Distinguishing Rapid and Slow C Cycling Feedbacks to Grazing in Sub-arctic Tundra

Abstract: Large grazers are known to affect ecosystem functioning even to the degree where ecosystems transition to another vegetation state. Alongside the vegetation change, several features of ecosystem functioning, such as ecosystem carbon sink capacity and soil carbon mineralisation rates, may be altered. It has remained largely uninvestigated how the grazing effects on carbon cycling processes depend on the duration of grazing. Here, we hypothesised that grazing affects ecosystem carbon sink through plant-driven processes (for example, photosynthesis) on shorter time-scales, whereas on longer time-scales changes in soil-driven processes (for example, microbial activity) become more important contributing to a decreased carbon sink capacity. To test this hypothesis, we investigated key processes behind ecosystem carbon cycling in an area that recently had become dominated by graminoids due to a high reindeer grazing intensity and compared these to the processes in an area of decades old grazing-induced graminoid dominance and in an area of shrub dominance with little grazer influence. In contrast to our hypothesis, areas of both old and recent grassification showed a similar carbon sink capacity. Yet the individual fluxes varied depending on the time passed since the vegetation shift: ecosystem respiration and mid-season photosynthesis were higher under old than recent grassification. In contrast, the extracellular enzyme activities for carbon and phosphorus acquisition were similar regardless of the time elapsed since grazer-induced vegetation change. These results provide novel understanding on how ecosystem processes develop over time in response to changes in the intensity of herbivory. Moreover, they indicate that both autotrophic and heterotrophic processes are controlled through multiple drivers that likely change depending on the duration of herbivory.

A discursive perspective on corporate social responsibility education: a story co-creation exercise

Abstract: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) pedagogies and teaching techniques have been extensively discussed in the literature. They are viewed as crucial for illustrating business–society relationships and encouraging business students to act ethically. Although the experiential learning perspective prevails in the discussions on CSR education, little attention has been paid to the discursive nature of CSR learning. Considering this gap, the paper explores the role of discourses in CSR education by drawing upon the discursive perspective on CSR and the relational social-constructionist orientation to management learning. To that end, a story co-creation exercise implemented in a CSR course in a Nordic University is used to demonstrate how discourses enable and constrain certain CSR meanings within a business educational context. The paper contributes to the field of CSR education and critical CSR research by suggesting how the discursive nature of CSR can be used to promote more reflexive practices among business students.

Care-related Quality of Life: Conceptual and Empirical Exploration

Abstract: In this chapter the concept of care-related quality of life (crQoL) is discussed as a basis for research within social gerontology and as a framework for evaluation of quality and performance within health and social care services for older people. The motivation for this, both theoretically and practically oriented work, lies in an increasing awareness that issues of quality of life (QoL) are particularly relevant in the study of older people who are vulnerable, frail or disabled. The changes in personal capacities, abilities, and circumstances that often accompany old age may fundamentally challenge the basis of a person’s well-being and may undermine their ability to cope with everyday life (Sixsmith, 1994; Hughes, 1990). For those people who rely on daily support from health and social care services this is likely to have a major impact on their QoL. Enhancing QoL should be a major component in how we assess the value and impact of the services. Considerable attention has been given to issues of health-related QoL (Bowling, 1995, 2004), e.g. in respect to particular illnesses or conditions. Attention has been given to QoL for people, especially older people, who are suffering from chronic, long-term conditions, such as congestive heart failure, stroke, and arthritis. Rather less attention has been given to older people who are described as ‘frail’, or who experience multiple low-level conditions that have impact on their abilities to cope with everyday life (Birren et al., 1991). Many of these people are dependent on the care and support they receive from formal (e.g. health and social care) and informal (e.g. family and neighbours) sources and their well-being is inevitably bound up in these care relationships. If care is fundamental to the well-being of frail older people, then a framework that specifically incorporates the role of care in the production of wellbeing is needed, rather than a more general concept of well-being. From an applied perspective, organisations involved in the monitoring, commissioning, and delivery of care services are specifically interested in evaluating the impact of care services. The work reported in this chapter has been carried out as part of the Care Keys – a project funded under the European Union’s Quality of Life Research and Development programme.1 Care Keys is a multidisciplinary project that aims to develop a conceptual model of crQoL, and a ‘tool kit’ for the evaluation and management of the quality of long-term care of older people, with emphasis on client voice and outcomes. This study was performed at the initial stage of the project to find our fitting outcome measures, and to test the connection between care and well-being for justifying the basic Care Keys approach and whether it provides a promising avenue for the project working.