Identity and cultural expression in Greenlandic fashion1

Abstract

The West Greenlandic national dress represents one of many aspects of Greenlandic identity and culture and is being used in contemporary fashion designs. Young Greenlanders are branding themselves in the media through fashion and are proud to wear distinctive signs of ‘Greenlandicness’. However, the incorporation of ‘sacred’ and cultural symbols, such as elements from the national costume, into fashion statements is problematic. Public disputes for and against changes to the perceived traditional symbols will form the basis of the empirical analysis. Will changing elements within the culture imply an impure culture and a weaker Greenlandicness? Fashion seems to be an important platform for negotiating identity, as it makes room for mixing elements and for challenging the essential dichotomy of purity and impurity, instead of placing Greenlandic identity and culture in a straitjacket of normative perceptions of tradition, essence and reification.