Nordic Indigeneity: Arctic ambivalence and post-coloniality in Iceland

The Nordic Indigeneity series is a series of conversations around multiple and changing perspectives on indigenous cultures in the Nordic region. The series is organised by the UCL Department of Scandinavian Studies in collaboration with the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation.

Arctic ambivalence and post-coloniality in Iceland

Greenland is Iceland’s closest neighbour, but the relationship has not been close between the two countries. In her talk Ann-Sofie Gremaud addressed shifting attitudes in Iceland towards Greenland and examples that show the role that it has come to play in Icelandic nation building. The cases range from disputes about the 1905 colonial exhibition in Denmark to recent geo-political shifts in the Arctic.

Dr Gremaud touched upon the terms of the research questions asked within the field and how these terms change in regard to making sense of Icelandic post-coloniality.

Bio

Ann-Sofie Nielsen Gremaud holds a PhD from the Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, University of Copenhagen (2012) (Crypto-colonial landscapes. Time, place and space in images of Icelandic landscape 1874-2011), and an MA (Nordic Literature and Languages and Art History) from the University of Aarhus (2007). She has numerous publications, among others Artistic Visions of the Anthropocene North: Climate Change and Nature in Art (editor with Gry Hedin); Denmark and the New North Atlantic. Narratives and Memories in a Former Empire (editor with Kirsten Thisted). From 2018 she is an assistant professor at the department of Danish at the University of Iceland.