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Sowa
example of an early and later version of an internal working paper by an international group of
experts and intellectuals commissioned by the Greenlandic self-government (section 3). The analysis
will show the authority of global models, since, in my view, the categories of
world polity
dominate
discourses on the cultural collective identity of the Greenlandic Inuit and ultimately form it (section
4). So far, a simultaneous recognition of indigeneity and nation-state status might have a negative
effect on the continuation of whaling. Therefore the article will conclude by focusing on the
construction of global models of
world polity
in order to explain the (self-)representation of the
Greenlanders (section 5).
The Case of
Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling
of the Greenlandic Inuit
The Greenlandic Inuit, as an indigenous people, have one of the most extensive systems of self-
government in the world (Dahl, 1993) and are seen as a ‗role model‘ for other indigenous peoples
(Thomsen, 2013: 254). The introduction of Greenlandic self-rule on June 21, 2009 through the
ratification of the
Self Rule Act
represents a further step in founding a nation-state (Kleist, 2010;
Nuttall, 2008). From 1721, Greenland was first a Danish-Norwegian, and after 1814 a Danish
colony (concerning the Greenlandic history see Caulfield, 1997; Gad, 1984; Nuttall, 1994; Petersen,
1995). After the official end of colonial rule in 1953, the Greenlanders were made equal to Danish
citizens by law. In the following years, a Danish welfare state was established in Greenland and led
to massive changes, which were described as the ‗Danification‘ of Greenland (H. Kleivan, 1984: 706;
Stern, 2010: 87). Because it was too expensive to supply the small and widely scattered settlements
with running water and electricity, many of them were closed in the course of the centralization and
urbanization policy. Traditional ties were severed and the former small communities had to first
adjust themselves to living in newly created ‗cities‘ (Nuttall, 1992). Many Greenlanders increasingly
felt that they were ―Northern Danes‖ (Caulfield, 1997: 36; Dorais, 1996: 29). With the Greenlandic
elite, a new post-colonial social class gained strength in the 1970s. This elite had studied at Danish
universities and now demanded a ‗more Greenlandic Greenland‘ or a Greenlandization (Breinholt-
Larsen, 1992: 216; Nuttall, 1992: 1) as well as an own Greenlandic collective identity of the Kalaallit
to distinguish them apart from the Danish collective identity (H. Kleivan, 1969/70; 1984) visualized
by own symbols (I. Kleivan, 1991). Their efforts met with great success: with the
Greenland Home
Rule Act
being passed on May 1, 1979, the Greenlandic home-rule government (
Hjemmestyre
) was
founded. At the same time Greenland remains economically dependent on the Danish State. The
300
th
anniversary of the colonization of the island will be in 2021. According to Hans Enoksen, who
served as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2009, this would be a good point in time for Greenland‘s
declaration of independence (Nuttall, 2008).
In terms of whaling, the Greenlandic Inuit continue to be allowed to hunt whales under
international law. Following the end of international commercial whaling in 1986 (Sowa, 2013c) the
international forum of the
International Whaling Commission
(IWC), which deals with the management
of bigger whales, permitted indigenous peoples in Alaska, Siberia and Greenland to continue
whaling for subsistence purposes. The recognition of cultural differences of indigenous peoples
shapes the basis for legitimation because the only form of legitimate whaling is called
Aboriginal
subsistence whaling
(Donovan, 1982a; Gambell, 1993, 1997).
Aboriginal subsistence whaling
means: