Destabilizing voices

On the negotiation of Danish cultural memory in Kim Leine’s and Iben Mondrup’s novels about Greenland

Abstract

While the dominant narrative has long been that Danish colonialism in Greenland was gentle and humane – in fact, almost not existing – increasingly, other interpretations are brought forward which put Denmark in a far from glorious and charitable position. The colonial past has, with a term from Sharon Macdonald, become difficult heritage, and a negotiation of Danish cultural memory is thus taking place. Two authors who actively participate in this process are Kim Leine and Iben Mondrup: Both have published several novels which deal with Denmark’s involvement in Greenland, and which obviously seek to problematize the idea of Denmark as a benevolent colonizer. In this article, I examine how Leine’s The Colony of Good Hope (2018, transl. 2022) and Mondrup’s Tabita (2020) contribute to destabilizing this narrative, with a particular focus on the use of multiperspectivity. Furthermore, I argue that the novels be read in a decolonial context.