Contesting Green(HOME)land: Power, participation, and resistance in Kalaallit Nunaat

• Author / Creator

  Young, Kaitlin S

• In Greenland today oil, gas, and mineral resource development is being pursued as a means for financial independence from the Kingdom of Denmark. Such development carries the potential for radical and unprecedented environmental and societal change. Recent years have witnessed intense political and social debates concerning the lack of appropriate public consultation and the deficiencies of environmental and social impact assessments. There is a call to action for increasing public involvement and legitimacy in decision-making. This thesis constitutes two empirical analyses. First, a case study of the hearing processes in Greenland is provided. The problems with and barriers to public participation that arise from structural and cultural inequalities are highlighted. Secondly, the lack of appropriate and accessible outlets for public participation and the deficiencies with the current political process in the country has led to Greenlanders taking their future into their own hands and negotiating a new identity within society. Actors may begin to engage in movements of resistance in order to encourage a process of a restructuring of power. The politics of resistance serve a dual purpose in challenging power, while challenging and creating knowledge. I seek to identify resistance movements in Greenland whereby local people are collecting at the margins and refusing to be silenced. It is often understood that no knowledge-production will take place in the margins or by the counter-hegemonic groups. However, this is not the case. Just by existing and challenging the dominant paradigms and understanding, these marginal sites in Greenland and their counter-hegemonic groups play a role in knowledge production.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Public participation
  • Greenland
  • Power
  • Resistance

• Graduation date

  Spring 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R30967

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.