A Piece of Greenland?:Making Marketable and Artisan Gemstones

• Published in: Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
• Main Author: Brichet, Nathalia Sofie
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Greenland; greenlandic
• Online Access: https://curis.ku.dk/portal/da/publications/a-piece-of-greenland(f36a24ae-5e90-4024-bc08-e10349e3c0f5).html; https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2020.290106; https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/ajec/29/1/ajec290106.xml

This article explores the emergence of a Greenlandic mineral resource landscape against the background of the current establishment of an industrial ruby mine in Greenland. Anthropological fieldwork in Greenland combined with a close reading of scientific reports, articles and geological assessments, about Greenlandic gemstones shows a recurrent feature, namely that Greenlandic minerals get scaled and valued in an ambiguous way. This ambiguity is telling of a type of Danish colonial activity, even if such geological mapping was and is motivated by a dream of welfare, development and economic sustainability shared by Danish experts and Greenlandic politicians alike. An overall point is to argue that the very practice of describing mineral resources also configures their perceived value and posits a yardstick by which to measure their potential. This article explores the emergence of a Greenlandic mineral resource landscape against the background of the current establishment of an industrial ruby mine in Greenland. Anthropological fieldwork in Greenland combined with a close reading of scientific reports, articles and geological assessments, about Greenlandic gemstones shows a recurrent feature, namely that Greenlandic minerals get scaled and valued in an ambiguous way. This ambiguity is telling of a type of Danish colonial activity, even if such geological mapping was and is motivated by a dream of welfare, development and economic sustainability shared by Danish experts and Greenlandic politicians alike. An overall point is to argue that the very practice of describing mineral resources also configures their perceived value and posits a yardstick by which to measure their potential.