Post-colonial identity in Greenland? When the empire dichotomizes back - bring politics back in
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Post-colonial identity in Greenland? When the empire dichotomizes back - bring politics back in. / Gad, Ulrik Pram.
In: Journal of Language & Politics, Vol. 8, No. 1, 2009, p. 136-158.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Post-colonial identity in Greenland?
T2 - When the empire dichotomizes back - bring politics back in
AU - Gad, Ulrik Pram
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - In the gradual unravelling of Greenland’s colonial relationship to Denmark, an essentialist conceptualization of Greenlandic identity has played a significant role. However, both our scholarly understanding of post-colonial Greenlandic identity and the process towards independence for Greenland could be furthered by bringing politics back in. Based on a discourse analysis of the Greenlandic debate on language, this paper makes three claims: First, the identity projects promoted in Greenland are based on an essentialist conception of identity. Secondly, Greenlandic identity discourse combines elements of traditional Inuit culture and elements of colonial modernity. Thirdly, monolingual Greenlanders are those with the most to gain from abandoning the dichotomy of essentialist identities. Strategically, the paper suggests a post-post-colonial Greenlandic identity as a means of avoiding the exclusion of valuable human resources. One step towards relieving the relation to the Danish Other of identificatory weight could be a gradual shift to English as second language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
AB - In the gradual unravelling of Greenland’s colonial relationship to Denmark, an essentialist conceptualization of Greenlandic identity has played a significant role. However, both our scholarly understanding of post-colonial Greenlandic identity and the process towards independence for Greenland could be furthered by bringing politics back in. Based on a discourse analysis of the Greenlandic debate on language, this paper makes three claims: First, the identity projects promoted in Greenland are based on an essentialist conception of identity. Secondly, Greenlandic identity discourse combines elements of traditional Inuit culture and elements of colonial modernity. Thirdly, monolingual Greenlanders are those with the most to gain from abandoning the dichotomy of essentialist identities. Strategically, the paper suggests a post-post-colonial Greenlandic identity as a means of avoiding the exclusion of valuable human resources. One step towards relieving the relation to the Danish Other of identificatory weight could be a gradual shift to English as second language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
M3 - Journal article
VL - 8
SP - 136
EP - 158
JO - Journal of Language and Politics
JF - Journal of Language and Politics
SN - 1569-2159
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 4031644