Post-colonial gaslighting and Greenlandic independence: When ontological insecurity sustains hierarchy
This article proposes the concept of ‘post-colonial gaslighting’ to analyse subtle forms of colonialism and domination in international relations and the persistence of hierarchies in the international system. It asks why Greenland, despite electoral majorities for independence, remains a part of th...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/00108367231163816 2024-06-16T07:40:21+00:00 Post-colonial gaslighting and Greenlandic independence: When ontological insecurity sustains hierarchy Hansen, Emil Sondaj 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00108367231163816 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00108367231163816 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/00108367231163816 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Cooperation and Conflict volume 58, issue 4, page 460-484 ISSN 0010-8367 1460-3691 journal-article 2023 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/00108367231163816 2024-05-19T13:10:34Z This article proposes the concept of ‘post-colonial gaslighting’ to analyse subtle forms of colonialism and domination in international relations and the persistence of hierarchies in the international system. It asks why Greenland, despite electoral majorities for independence, remains a part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Going beyond existing materialist explanations focusing on lack of economic development, the article deploys the framework of ontological insecurity to show how Danish elites through techniques of gaslighting challenge the post-colonial status of Greenland and prevent agency. The Greenlandic colonial experience is rejected and delegitimised, in turn providing the foundation for blaming Greenlanders for failing to live up to the criteria of statehood. The article thus breaks with widespread assumptions of voluntarism in the literature on non-sovereignty, as well as introducing mechanisms of contestation to the literature on ontological security. The theoretical contribution of the article is the conceptual marriage of the hierarchy and ontological security literatures through the concept of post-colonial gaslighting. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland greenlander* greenlandic SAGE Publications Greenland Cooperation and Conflict 58 4 460 484 |
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SAGE Publications |
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English |
description |
This article proposes the concept of ‘post-colonial gaslighting’ to analyse subtle forms of colonialism and domination in international relations and the persistence of hierarchies in the international system. It asks why Greenland, despite electoral majorities for independence, remains a part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Going beyond existing materialist explanations focusing on lack of economic development, the article deploys the framework of ontological insecurity to show how Danish elites through techniques of gaslighting challenge the post-colonial status of Greenland and prevent agency. The Greenlandic colonial experience is rejected and delegitimised, in turn providing the foundation for blaming Greenlanders for failing to live up to the criteria of statehood. The article thus breaks with widespread assumptions of voluntarism in the literature on non-sovereignty, as well as introducing mechanisms of contestation to the literature on ontological security. The theoretical contribution of the article is the conceptual marriage of the hierarchy and ontological security literatures through the concept of post-colonial gaslighting. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hansen, Emil Sondaj |
spellingShingle |
Hansen, Emil Sondaj Post-colonial gaslighting and Greenlandic independence: When ontological insecurity sustains hierarchy |
author_facet |
Hansen, Emil Sondaj |
author_sort |
Hansen, Emil Sondaj |
title |
Post-colonial gaslighting and Greenlandic independence: When ontological insecurity sustains hierarchy |
title_short |
Post-colonial gaslighting and Greenlandic independence: When ontological insecurity sustains hierarchy |
title_full |
Post-colonial gaslighting and Greenlandic independence: When ontological insecurity sustains hierarchy |
title_fullStr |
Post-colonial gaslighting and Greenlandic independence: When ontological insecurity sustains hierarchy |
title_full_unstemmed |
Post-colonial gaslighting and Greenlandic independence: When ontological insecurity sustains hierarchy |
title_sort |
post-colonial gaslighting and greenlandic independence: when ontological insecurity sustains hierarchy |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00108367231163816 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/00108367231163816 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/00108367231163816 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland greenlander* greenlandic |
genre_facet |
Greenland greenlander* greenlandic |
op_source |
Cooperation and Conflict volume 58, issue 4, page 460-484 ISSN 0010-8367 1460-3691 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/00108367231163816 |
container_title |
Cooperation and Conflict |
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58 |
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4 |
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460 |
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484 |
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1802007254638002176 |