“A Place in the Sun”:Historical Perspectives on the Debate on Development and Modernity in Greenland

• Main Author: Thisted, Kirsten
• Other Authors: Hansson, Heidi, Ryall, Anka
• Format: Book Part
• Language: Danish
• Published: Cambridge Scholars Press 2017
• Subjects: Greenland; Arctic; greenlander*; greenlandic; Grønland; Atuagagdliutit
• Online Access: https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/a-place-in-the-sun(bdd2389f-eac3-4922-80eb-bd3568b498f6).html; https://arcticportal.org/ap-library/news/1982-arctic-modernities-the-environmental-the-exotic-and-the-everyday

The chapter adds a historical perspective to the present debate on development and modernity in Greenland. It invites the readers back to the time when Greenland was a Danish colony, with the intention of offering insight into how Greenlandic and Danish players at the time dealt with the issue of the modernization of Greenland. The focus of analysis is Mathias Storch’s Strejflys over Grønland (Gleams of light over Greenland) from 1930. This book was written by a Greenlander in Danish, as a response to a Danish publication, Sophie Petersen’s Grønland i hverdag og fest (Greenland in everyday life and celebrations) from 1928. Petersen’s book reflected contemporary points of view and perceptions in the Danish discourse on Greenland in religious circles and among people who had previously worked in Greenland. Storch’s book reflected perceptions in Greenlandic society, as these were also expressed in the two Greenlandic newspapers, Atuagagdliutit and Avangnâmioq. The texts draw a clear picture of the contemporary Greenlanders' self-perception as co-authors of modernity, not passive receivers (or victims) of modernity. The chapter adds a historical perspective to the present debate on development and modernity in Greenland. It invites the readers back to the time when Greenland was a Danish colony, with the intention of offering insight into how Greenlandic and Danish players at the time dealt with the issue of the modernization of Greenland. The focus of analysis is Mathias Storch’s Strejflys over Grønland (Gleams of light over Greenland) from 1930. This book was written by a Greenlander in Danish, as a response to a Danish publication, Sophie Petersen’s Grønland i hverdag og fest (Greenland in everyday life and celebrations) from 1928. Petersen’s book reflected contemporary points of view and perceptions in the Danish discourse on Greenland in religious circles and among people who had previously worked in Greenland. Storch’s book reflected perceptions in Greenlandic society, as these were also expressed in the two Greenlandic newspapers, Atuagagdliutit and Avangnâmioq.