Book chapter
The uses of history in Greenland
The Routledge Companion to Global Indigenous History, pp.690-721
Routledge, First edition
2021
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Abstract
The way history is used globally directly affects Indigenous peoples presently and in the future. In Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), local and outside understandings of Greenlandic history impact the lives of Greenlanders, both native and immigrant, in diverse and complicated ways; in their identity construction; in how policies are formulated domestically; and in international relations. They also shape the futures that Greenlanders envision for themselves. In this chapter, we investigate Greenlandic uses of history from the pre-colonial period to the present day. While Greenlanders have up until now produced only a small (though growing) number of formal or academic histories of their land and its people, Kalaallit have used forms such as literature, art, photography, and popular music to engage creatively and critically with their pasts. Here, we consider both the distinctiveness of these engagements and their global resonances. Situating the innovative and sometimes divergent currents in Greenlandic self-representation in their social, political, and cultural contexts, we show that Greenlanders who sought to represent their own pasts were never ‘just’ writing against a European tradition of representation; rather, they were making their own significant interventions in national discussions around identity, economics, and politics.
Details
- Title
- The uses of history in Greenland
- Creators
- Claire McLiskyKirstine Eiby Møller
- Contributors
- Ann McGrath (Editor)Lynette Russell (Editor)
- Publication Details
- The Routledge Companion to Global Indigenous History, pp.690-721
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Edition
- First edition
- Identifiers
- 991013176794102368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Book chapter