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Abstract

This analytical paper seeks to understand what political, economic, and sociocultural barriers inhibit Greenlandic independence from Denmark. The concept of independence must be conceptualized from an Inuit perspective in order to analyze what sacrifices Greenland’s largest ethnic group is willing to make to achieve an independent state. The resource extraction industry offers one path towards independence by reducing dependency on Danish and EU funding. However, this paper argues that Inuit cultural values, especially an inherent connection with the physical and spiritual health of the natural environment, is of higher value than the economic benefits of investing in the resource extraction industry. Thus, Greenlanders refuse to abandon their cultural norms at the cost of continued Danish rule, albeit with a high degree of autonomy. These findings suggest that societies not well integrated within the global economy may choose to prioritize cultural preservation, even at the cost of political sovereignty.

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2024 Leo Freedman

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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