NUUK

Resumé

The article is based on 40 interviews from

fieldwork in 2001 and 2002. It deals with

Greenlanders’ views on the development

of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, and the

relationship between Nuuk and the rest

of Greenland. Contrary to the anti-urban

narratives of the 1960s and 1970s, the

informants – migrants and locals – like

living in a relatively big town such as

Nuuk, because it has much more to offer

than the smaller places. Contrary to conventional

beliefs about Greenlanders, the

informants tend to regard social change

as only natural and be oriented towards

the present and the future rather than the

past. Thus it is not a question of people

merely surviving, but rather a question of

people thriving, in the urban landscape

of Nuuk. According to one of the informants,

the rest of Greenland would likely

be depopulated if the municipality of Nuuk

would be able to solve its housing problems.

Municipal housing problems, however,

are part of the larger issue of regional

development, which is highly political due

to the legacy of the policy of centralization

during the 1960s. This policy is usually

associated with the Danish authorities and

thus seen as antithetical to a proper Greenlandic

policy.