Since Trump's offers to buy Greenland, an ambivalent mineral narrative has been unfolding. Greenland's subsoil is sometimes seen as an indispensable tool for independence, sometimes as an object of desire for the great powers. While the mining process is intertwined with the construction of the Greenlandic state, the analysis of extractive issues must not conceal the agency and plurality of local actors, or the long history of their struggles against imperialism. This image of an island seen primarily as a mineral reserve, even though only one mine is currently in operation, is reactivating an old colonial narrative: that of Greenland as a wild land and its people as powerless victims of foreign influences. This is often accompanied by a paternalistic presentation of Danish "protection," or a dreamlike rhetoric of independence.
However, Greenlanders are by no means passive in the face of imperialism. An institutional program of state-building is underway. The initial self-government of 1979, followed by its expansion in 2009, enabled the transfer of a large number of powers. This triggered the establishment of a legislative apparatus and an autonomous administration. The 2009 Act on Greenland Self-Government gave Greenland the legal opportunity to become independent.
In 2016, the parliament launched a Constituent Assembly for the Parliamentary Republic of Greenland, before a "draft" Constitution was published in the spring of 2023. More recently, the discussion on nationality and its share of special identity issues – recurrent in Greenland for several decades – took a new turn in the course of 2024. An exchange with the Danish ministry of justice regarding passports reopened the debate on the documentary function of Greenland authorities, this function still being a Danish competence.
Ambivalent moral crusade
For years, activists, researchers, and organizations have been denouncing racial discrimination, interwoven with other systems of oppression, as well as the invisibility experienced by Inuit within the Rigsfællesskabet (the union formed by Denmark and its two autonomous territories, Greenland and Faroe). Trump's announcements have reconfigured the colonial framing of the Inuit population. The government of Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen appears to be embarking on an ambivalent moral crusade. Shortly after the American president's announcements, the ministry of social affairs decided to put an end to standardized psychometric tests assessing parenting ability. These tests have been criticized for years by the Inuit community.
You have 37.4% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.