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Toward a Postcolonial Greenland: Culture, Identity, and Colonial Legacy

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Colonialism in Greenland

Part of the book series: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series ((CIPCSS))

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Abstract

In 2009, Greenland, albeit still within the Danish Realm, gained a higher level of autonomy when the Self-Government Act came into effect. This development has sparked debate over the nature of the past as well as the future relationship between Denmark and Greenland. When a newly elected Greenlandic self-government (Naalakkersuisut) in 2013 decided to establish a Reconciliation Commission, assigning it the task of investigating the effects and legacy of colonialism in Greenland, the debate increased in intensity. This chapter explores the outline of the historical development up to the present and reflects on the legacy of colonialism.

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Notes

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  7. 7.

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  9. 9.

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  12. 12.

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  13. 13.

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  14. 14.

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  15. 15.

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    Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2000).

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    Website for Red Barnet, accessed May 7, 2016, https://www.redbarnet.dk/Nyhed.aspx?ID=25&NewsId=2455&PID=54, my translation.

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    Kladakis, “Grønlandsk Skam,” 39.

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    Lars Jensen, “Forsoningskommission og selvransagelse –’never the twain shall meet’” baggrund.com, December 21, 2014.

  40. 40.

    Quoted from Berlingske, August 19, 2009.

  41. 41.

    Ahmed, The Cultural Politics, 101–121. These removals of children were conducted predominantly in the period between 1905 and 1969––a comprehensive discussion of the number of removed children has unfolded, the “Bringing them Home” Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families (1997) estimates that around 100,000 children were removed.

  42. 42.

    Ahmed, The Cultural Politics, 119––his successor Kevin Ruud finally gave this apology in February 13, 2008.

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    Anders Fogh Rasmussen (2208) quoted from Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa webpage accessed May 7, 2016, http://knr.gl/en/node/133850.

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    Kladakis, “Grønlandsk Skam.”

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  46. 46.

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  47. 47.

    Aleqa Hammond in Information, November 18, 2013.

  48. 48.

    Søren Espersen in Jyllands Posten (Blog) February 18, 2014.

  49. 49.

    Quoted from Information, April 4, 2015.

  50. 50.

    See, for example, Information, April 4, 2015; Lars Jensen, “Forsoningskommission og selvransagelse – ‘never the twain shall meet’” baggrund.com, December 21, 2014.

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    Et samlet land – Et samlet folk Koalitionsaftale 2013–2017 (2013).

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  55. 55.

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  56. 56.

    Aqqaluk Lynge, “Strengthening Culture Through Change: Will Climate Change Strengthen or Destroy Us?” address at the University of Edinburgh, October 20, 2009.

  57. 57.

    ICC, Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Resource Development Principles in Inuit Nunaat (2011).

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    Jeppe Strandsbjerg, “De oprindelige folk udfordrer den traditionelle statstænkning i diskussionen om Nordpolen,” in Jyllands-Posten, April 7, 2011.

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  60. 60.

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  61. 61.

    Aqqaluk Lynge, “Grønland kan ikke overskue olieefterforskning,” Ingeniøren, June 17, 2010.

  62. 62.

    Gry Søbye, “To Be or Not to Be Indigenous: Defining People and Sovereignty in Greenland After Self-Government,” in Karen Langgård and Kenneth Pedersen, eds., Modernization and Heritage: How to Combine the Two in Inuit Societies (Nuuk: Forlaget Atuagkat, 2013).

  63. 63.

    Søbye, “To Be or Not to Be Indigenous.”

  64. 64.

    Lars Trier Mogensen, “Fremtiden tegner sort for Grønland,” in Politiken, August 26, 2010.

  65. 65.

    Kuupik Kleist, “Grønlands fremtid: Danmark er formørket af oliefeber,” in Politiken, September 1, 2010.

  66. 66.

    Kuupik Kleist in Sylvia Pfeifer and Christopher Thompsom, “The Struggle for Greenland’s Oil,” Financial Times, August 26, 2011.

  67. 67.

    Henrik Leth, “Greenpeace er formynderisk,” in Weekendavisen, September 10, 2010; Kleist, “Grønlands fremtid”; Kleist, “The Struggle for”; Kuupik Kleist in Gloria Galloway, “Greenland’s Inuit Premier Defends Oil and Gas Drilling,” in Globe and Mail, February 23, 2011.

  68. 68.

    Kuupik Kleist, in Gloria Galloway, “Greenland’s Inuit Premier.”

  69. 69.

    Lill Rasted Bjørst, “Arktiske diskurser og klimaforandringer i Grønland. Fire (post)humanistiske klimastudier” (Ph.D. dissertation, Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen, 2011).

  70. 70.

    Bjørst, “Arktiske diskurser.”

  71. 71.

    Frank Sejersen, Rethinking Greenland and the Arctic in the Era of Climate Change (London and New York: Routledge, 2015).

  72. 72.

    Sejersen, Rethinking Greenland, 3.

  73. 73.

    Sejersen, Rethinking Greenland, 221.

  74. 74.

    Bjørst, “Arktiske diskurser,” 21.

  75. 75.

    Bjørst, “Arktiske diskurser,” 21.

  76. 76.

    Bjørst, “Arktiske diskurser,” 67–68.

  77. 77.

    Sejersen, Rethinking Greenland, 224 (with reference to Bjørst, “Arktiske diskurser”).

  78. 78.

    Website, Visit Greenland: http://www.greenland.com/en/about-greenland/culture-spirit/hunting-culture/, accessed May 10, 2016.

  79. 79.

    Kirsten Hastrup, Thule På Tidens Rand (København: Lindhardt & Ringhof, 2015), 171–174.

  80. 80.

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  81. 81.

    Hastrup, Thule, 163–164.

  82. 82.

    Thisted, “Nationbuilding – Nationbranding,” 599–600.

  83. 83.

    Hastrup, Thule, 18.

Bibliography

  • Thisted, Kirsten. “Nationbuilding-Nationbranding. Identitetspositioner og tilhørsforhold under det selvstyrende Grønland.” In Ole Høiris and Ole Marquardt (eds.) Fra vild til verdensborger. Århus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2011.

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Rud, S. (2017). Toward a Postcolonial Greenland: Culture, Identity, and Colonial Legacy. In: Colonialism in Greenland. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46158-8_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46158-8_7

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