National Identity Politics and Postcolonial Sovereignty Games: Greenland, Denmark, and the European Union

Greenland views itself as being on the way to sovereignty. This image -- and the tensions involved in it -- structure the triangular relation between the EU, Greenland and Denmark. The central Other of Greenland has for a couple of centuries been Denmark, the colonial overlord. The national identity discourses of Greenland and Denmark both idealise national homogeneity. A central condition for a continuation of Rigsfællesskabet, the community of the realm including Greenland and Denmark, is the idea that Greenland still needs external assistance in its development towards independence -- and that this idea can be formulated in a way which does not infantilise Greenland metaphorically. As part of the post-colonial diversification of Greenlands dependency, the bilateral relation between Denmark and Greenland has gradually been opened up to involve other others. Meanwhile, a discourse prognosticates that climate change is opening up the Arctic to minerals extraction and commerce. In these circumstances, the triangular relation with the EU is played out as a series of rhetorical and practical sovereignty games, in Nuuk, Copenhagen and Brussels. Particularly, a number of strategies are employed to minimise the apparent role of Denmark for the Greenlandic relations to the EU.