Byen og bygden – grønlandskhedens landskaber

Abstract

Denne artikel tager udgangspunkt i udtalelser om Gronlands hovedstad Nuuk som ”et stykke Danmark pa klipper”. Formalet er at vise, hvordan og hvorfor Nuuk er omstridt, og hvordan synet pa byen har aendret sig over tid. Ved hjaelp af landskabsbegrebet defineret som en relation mellem det sociale livs forgrund (os som vi er nu) og baggrund (os som vi kunne vaere) pavises en sammenhaeng mellem synet pa byen og den politiske udvikling i Gronland. Hvor den anti-urbane fortaelling var fremherskende fra sidst i 1960’erne, hvor byerne var associeret med danskhed og fremmedgorelse, og gronlaenderen og byen blev set som uforenelige storrelser, blev den fra 2000 i stigende grad aflost af en mere inkluderende og kompleks gronlandskhed. I landskabsterminologi var situationen den, at folk levede et utilpasset, danskpraeget dagligliv i byen, men dromte om et andet liv i pagt med gronlandske traditioner og vaerdier. Hvor forgrund og baggrund la meget langt fra hinanden, er der sket en tilnaermelse ved, at byen er blevet approprieret som et gronlandsk landskab. Nuuks status har saledes aendret sig i retning af stigende anerkendelse. Men Nuuk beskyldes samtidig for at viderefore en dansk centraliseringspolitik og kan i den forstand stadig ses som ”et stykke Danmark pa klipper”. ENGELSK ABSTRACT: Bo Wagner Sorensen and Soren Forchhammer: The Town and the Settlement – Landscapes of “Greenlandicness” This article analyses statements about the Greenlandic capital Nuuk as being “a piece of Denmark on rocks”. The purpose is to show how and why Nuuk is contested and how this perspective has changed over time. Using the concept of landscape defined as a relation between the foreground (the way we are now) and background (how we could be) of social life, the article demonstrates how this perspective of the town is connected with the political development in the country. The anti-urban narrative was dominant from the late 1960s when towns were associated with “Danishness” and alienation, but it was increasingly replaced by a more inclusive and complex “Greenlandicness” from around 2000. In landscape terminology it appeared that people lived incompatible “Danish” everyday lives in towns, but dreamt about another life more in agreement with Greenlandic traditions and values. While foreground and background used to be far apart, they have come closer as the town has been appropriated as a Greenlandic landscape. Thus the status of Nuuk has changed towards increasing approval. However, Nuuk is also criticized for carrying on a Danish policy of dominance and centralizing. In this sense it is still considered “a piece of Denmark on rocks”. Keywords: Greenland, Nuuk, urban studies, landscapes, migration.