From Female Shamans to Danish Housewives: Colonial Constructions of Gender in Greenland, 1721 to ca. 1970

Abstract

Taking its inspiration from post-colonial feminist scholarship, particularly the writings of Greenland scholar Karla Jessen Williamson, this paper sets out to trace the ways in which conceptions of gender in Greenland changed as a consequence of the eighteenth-century colonial encounter with Christian missionaries and a Danish trade monopoly. According to Jessen Williamson, pre-colonial Greenlandic conceptions of gender were characterized by a certain social indifference to gender, and the absence of a given hierarchy of male dominance/female subordination—a situation of genderlessness. During the process of colonization, European morals of sexuality and hierarchies of gender were introduced, along with hierarchies of race. The paper focuses on two historical periods, the 1700s and the 1900s. We see the first period as characterized by intricate intersections of gender, race, and class, as well as transformations of existing norms of gender and sexuality. As for the second period, the paper investigates how the notion of genderlessness might provide a background for understanding the different implications of the process of modernization for different groups of women in Greenland. Our aim is to contribute to a continued discussion of different understandings of gender in Greenland and elsewhere.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 In 1979 a more extensive Home Rule was introduced.

2 Greenland Inuit call themselves kalaallit.

3 Cf. the title of Oyewùmí’s 1997 book: The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses. For further discussion of Oyewùmí’s work, see Arnfred, 2011.

4 Since no written sources describing Greenlandic life in pre-colonial times exist, we have to rely on much later—and mainly colonial—descriptions. Regarding this type of account, it is a matter of judgement whether we subject them to critical analysis, or whether we accept the descriptions as valid for the image of Greenlandic society we want to convey.

5 In Danish: Instrux, hvorefter Kiøbmændene eller de som enten bestyre Handelen eller forestaae Hvalfanger-Anlæggene i Grønland, i Særdeleshed, saavelsom og alle de der staae i Handelens Tieneste i Almindelighed, sig for fremtiden have at rette og forholde.

6 Oyèrónké Oyewùmí talks about a “process of patriarchalizing Yoruba history and culture” (Oyewùmí 1997, p. 29), pointing to an interpretation of a genderless culture in a patriarchal way.

7 Also in the 1780s two positions as Inspector, i.e. local representatives of the Danish state/the King, were created, one in the north (Godhavn) the other in the south (Godthåb).

8 In Danish: I Grønland står mænd og kvinder lige på måtten.