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Balman 1 Annotated Fact List 1.

Greenland: Location The largest island in the world (more than three times the size of Texas and spanning four time zones), Greenland is located on the continent of North America (Arctic Region) between Canada and Iceland. Approximately 81% of the island is ice-capped leaving only less than 411 thousand square kilometers out of well over two-million, ice-free. The capital of Greenland is Nuuk (Godthb in Danish) (Greenland). Many of the Eskimo (Inuit) people survive by hunting and fishing and are struggling as fish stocks become depleted. The islands population is only 57,000. Inhabitants face severe social problems, notably unemployment, alcoholism and HIV/Aids (BBC News Regions). 2. Denmark: Location Located on the Jutland Peninsula, Demark shares approximately half of the peninsula with Germany in an area that is less than twice the size of Massachusetts including the major islands of Sjaelland and Fyn. Denmark is also bordered by Sweden, which lies directly to Denmarks east, and Norway, which lies directly to Denmarks north and separated by the Baltic Sea, the Skagerrak Straight, and The Kattegat Bay respectively. The capitol of Denmark, Copenhagen, is located on the Sjaelland Island (Denmark). 3. Greenland Colonized In 982, Greenland [is] discovered by the Norwegian Erik the Red, who had been banished from Iceland. He returns to Iceland in 985 and calls his discovery Greenland to make it more attractive. In 986 he returns to Greenland with settlers. Fourteen years later, Leif Eriksson, the son of Erik the Red, departs from Greenland on the last stage of a voyage which is to take him to the north-east coast of North America, 500 years before Christopher Columbus. Christianity [is] established in Greenland (BBC News Timeline). 4. Greenland ColonizedAgain Modern colonization was begun (1721) by the Norwegian missionary Hans Egede. Danish trading posts were established shortly afterward, and colonization was furthered by deporting undesirable subjects to Greenland. Soon, the native Greenlanders began to suffer from European diseases; tuberculosis remained a problem into the 1960s. In 1814, with the Treaty of Kiel, Denmark retained Greenland and other Atlantic possessions when Norway was ceded to Sweden, which, for strategic reasons, was interested in control of the Scandinavian peninsula but not in overseas commitments of the outlying Norwegian possessions (Greenland). 5. Greenland Isolated In 1721, [t]he Danes closed Greenland to foreigners, and the Greenlanders remained isolated, with much inter-marriage between the two populations, and the gradual erosion of traditional Inuit culture. After coming under AMERICAN protection in the 1940s, the island became an integral part of Denmark in 1953 but was granted home rule in 1979. This, however, has not

Balman 2 resolved many concerns of the Green-landers. They remain dependent on Denmark for most government income, and Danes control much of the economy. Inuit-speaking teachers are scarce, and the Inuit language has suffered in consequence, although Inuit culture remains very strong. Employment opportunities remain limited, and the USA has failed to remove military bases, showing the limits of autonomy (Greenlanders). 6. Greenland Exploited In the 19th and 20th cent., Greenland was explored and mapped by numerous arctic explorers. In World War II, after the German occupation (1940) of Denmark, the United States invoked the Monroe Doctrine for Greenland and reached an agreement (1941) with the Danish minister at Washington that permitted the establishment of U.S. military bases and meteorological stations. A Danish-American agreement for the common defense of Greenland was signed in 1951, and U.S. bases were retained, notably at Thule. Thule is now the sole remaining U.S. military base in Greenland (Greenland, Weigert). Dozens of Inuit families were forced off their lands in 1953 to allow expansion at the base. Many Greenlanders would like to see it closed down. Others see economic reasons for keeping it (BBC News Regions) 7. Why Thule? According to the United States, Construction of a worldwide system of modern air bases was one of the Air Forces most important tasks following World War II. The US studied the possibility of establishing a major operating base in Greenland when it became clear that round trip flights of planes carrying atomic bombs between US or Canadian bases and European objectives were impractical. The shortest route from the US to the Soviet Unions most important industrial areas was over the North Pole, and Thule is at the precise midpoint between Moscow and New York. Thule became a key point in the whole American military strategy. Strategic Air Command bombers flying over the Arctic presented less risk of early warning than using bases in England. Defensively, Thule could serve as a base for intercepting bomber attacks along the northeastern approaches to Canada and the US (28). 8. Greenland Free? In 1953 Denmark passed a new constitution that made Greenland a county within Denmark. This resolution was not mentioned in the constitution itself, but it was made clear in the previous debate and in a referendum in Denmarknot in Greenlandthat the colonial status of Greenland had formally ended. In fact, no real change occurred, as Denmark for a long time administered the common human rights or civil rights in Greenland and continued to govern Greenland with the same civil servants and the same administrative body as before. The speeches given on the constitution day in Greenland were formulated with enthusiasm, but did not express many of the realities, and might be regarded as a mental reaction to the end of the colonial state (Petersen 120).

Balman 3 9. Greenland Danized The political consequences of this official situation [the promotion of Greenland from colony to country] were that a modernization of Greenland began, bringing about improvements in a number of areas. There was a campaign to reduce tuberculosis, the leading cause of death at the time, and the school system was reorganized and separated from the church. Many Danish teachers were engaged, and they introduced Danish-style schooling for children who were mainly monolingual Greenlandic speakers. Greenlandic was retained as a subject in the schools, however. The housing program resulted in modernization of many dwellings, concentrating in the West Greenlandic open water area, in the towns where industrialization of the economy had begun. National economic evaluations entered Greenland. The so-called Danization period began. This was regarded as a consequence of the change from colonial state to a so-called equal state, but in some way it was also a response to the Greenlandic political wishes of the time between 1945 and 1950 (Sorensen 1983:1215 f) (Petersen 120-121). 10. Green Discrimination Together with the end of the formal colonial state, the reservation status of Greenland ceased, but modernization made Greenland economically more dependent on Denmark than ever. The Danish staff in administration, and not least in education, introduced Danish ideas concerning economic activities and organization. The means of attracting Danish staff to Greenland were economic, housing, and social privileges. This created a really visible discrimination between colleagues according to their Danish or Greenlandic origin. In the next decade the justification of Danish privileges was expressed in other idioms. It was commonly said that any Dane working in Greenland had come in order to help the Greenlanders. It was an old idea of the colonial civil servants that they had to do tasks which the Greenlanders could not manage for themselves. The indicated privileges at the beginning were higher wages, almost a certainty of a superior position, and guaranteed housing, either free or very cheap. In the midst of the 1960s, this kind of discrimination was legalized by passing the birthplace-criterion in the Greenland Civil Servants Act, according to which civil servants born in Greenland would be in receipt of only 85% of the Danish basic salary. With further advantages for the imported civil servants, the differences grew and of course affected wage earners at all levels (Petersen 121). This kind of discrimination disappeared almost totally from Greenland about 1990. Only the Danish Ministry of Administration of Justice still practices it in Greenland (Petersen 122). 11. Mental Colonialism? In connection with economic and social problems, it is often omitted that the colonial power itself created several problems. It exported its own values, its own knowledge, religion, and organizational system, which in the colonized area effected a dissolution of the original indigenous norms. These new values need not be bad in themselves but their impact on the social, economic, and intellectual systems-not least the religious ones-might well create several problems of their own. Many colonial powers introduced specific cultural ideas as if they were

Balman 4 universal values (Petersen 122). 12. Greenland Autonomous? In 1979, Greenland attains home rule following a referendum. The parliament decides upon and administers internal matters, but Denmark retains control over constitutional affairs, foreign relations and defence [sic]. In 1982, Greenlanders vote to leave the European Communitythe withdrawal is completed in 1985. In November of 2008, Greenlanders vote in referendum for more autonomy, greater control over energy resources and granting Kalaallisut or Western Greenlandic status of official language in place of Danish (BBC News Timeline). Denmark, however, continues to exercise control of Greenlands foreign affairs, security, and financial policy in consultation with Greenlands Home Rule Government (Greenland CIA). Furthermore, Greenlands economy remains critically dependent on exports of shrimp and fish and on a substantial subsidy - about $700 million in 2008-09 - from the Danish Government, which supplies about 60% of government revenues (Greenland CIA). 13. Inuit Migration According to United States history, [i]n the spring of 1953 the Greenlandic Village of Thule, located at the base of Mt Dundas, was moved 65 miles north to Quaanaaq, on Red Cliff Peninsula. The Inuits said that the noise and smells from the planes and ships frightened away the walruses, seals, polar bears, and birds essential to their cultural survival. They moved so that hunting and fishing could continue without disturbances from the activities of the modern air base. Before the air base at Thule was built, the Inuits used the top of Mt Dundas as a burial ground. The remains of the Danish explorer Knud Rasmussen (1879-1933) lie there. Upon departing, the people of Thule demanded they take the name with them. The settlement remained but adopted the name Dundas, taken from the nearby mountain. In 1985, Dundas Village, at the base of Mt Dundas, closed down (United States 31) 14. Inuit Reparations? In 1999, the Danish High Court rules that Inuit were illegally exiled from their land in northern Greenland in 1953, but denies them right of return. In 2003, the Danish Supreme Court rejects Inuit appeal against 1999 ruling denying them right of return to ancestral lands in northern Greenland (BBC News Timeline). 15. What is a Greenlander? A Danish Perspective According to Madsen and Sullivan, [t]o most Danes, being Greenlandic means having serious social and substance abuse problems, and to some it even means coming from a backward culture So what do Danes envision when they think of Greenlanders? Perhaps they may recall what is most publicly visible the socially excluded Greenlanders of Vesterbro Torv or Christiania, a counter-culture commune in the heart of Copenhagen where hash is openly sold. They are often homeless and flagrantly drunk, contrasting sharply with a relatively reserved Danish culture Actually, according to recent studies, the destitute Greenlanders only constitute approximately

Balman 5 10% of the Greenlandic population in Denmark. Thus the vast majority of Greenlanders, estimated to be between 7,000-9,000, lead lives similar to that of any other Dane but have to nevertheless reckon with a both unfair and misrepresentative stereotype of indigence. It is exactly this stereotype that Helene Risager, Information Manager of Copenhagens Greenlandic House, bemoans when she relates her experiences at social functions: They say Oh, you dont look like a Greenlander, and they mean it like a compliment, but if they saw me with a beer in my hand they would say that I look like a Greenlander. (Image and Reality). 16. Greenlandic Culture in Denmark There is a recurrent tension that haunts every aspect of the Greenlandic experience in Denmark. It is the unsettling decision of whether to move forward and westernize or to stay behind and keep ones tradition alive. Some have described it as a pendulum, while others have described it as a battle of history versus progress. There is sometimes the latent fear that if Greenlanders enmesh themselves too much into Danish society then Greenland per se diminishes its chances of ever becoming its own nation-state (Madsen and Sullivan Cultural Differences: Barriers or Doors). 17. The Danish Greenlander Most Greenlanders, especially the ones residing in Denmark, have two identities [and] [t]he ability to make something positive of both identities correlates strongly to a high level of confidence in each. Kurt Olsen, head of department at Kofoeds Skole, a shelter and educational institution for marginalized groups in Copenhagen, has extensive knowledge of the problems that can arise when such a level of confidence is lacking. He posits, development towards being a whole person can first take place when they have grown confident enough of themselves and of their own culture when they have accepted their own Greenlandic identity. Many Greenlanders have been brought up to believe that everything Greenlandic is worse than, or not as good as, Danish (Madsen and Sullivan Lack of Awareness). 18. Green, Not Mean The Greenlandic culture, emphasiz[es] humbleness and not interposing oneself (Madsen and Sullivan Legal Recognition and Equality). When I get a visit from Greenland and bring them to a flea market, and somebody demands 50 kroner for something, they just pay without protest. A Dane would maybe bargain the price to 40 kroner, whereas an immigrant would go on haggling until the price was 25 kroner and she continues: This illustrates the differences in culture: Greenlanders do not question what other people say. Greenlanders are more passive and accept whatever is presented to them. To make it in the Danish society you have to be aggressive and demanding, and ready to challenge the status quo. For a Greenlander needing help this presents a special problem: first, asking for help is awkward and foreign to their natural behavior and second, Greenlanders are wary of speaking up for themselves when not treated fairly or according to the relevant standards. In a broader perspective, this could explain why Greenlanders are less outspoken than other minority groups in the public sphere (Madsen and Sullivan Cultural Differences: Barriers or Doors).

Balman 6 Synthesis/Abstract Smilla Jaspersen, half Greenlander and half Danish, was raised by her Inuit mother in Qaanaaq, Greenland before moving to Copenhagen, Denmark to live. The information Ive gathered is far from exhaustive, but it does give one a sense of the history behind the past relationship between Greenlanders and Danes and provides some exposition on the current relationships between both cultures living in both countries. One can almost understand Smillas treatment at the hands of the police once they discover she is part Inuit and their reluctance to pursue details she brings to their attention regarding the dead Greenland boydetails written in the snow that she learned to read as child as we must think every Greenlander can. One can also almost understand the contempt she seems to have for much of Denmark and its citizens. The relationship between the two cultures was several hundred-to-one thousand years in the making. It will take several hundred more to heal it. Smillas heart belongs to Greenland, but the Danish part of her mind would seem enable her to fight the injustice she finds and pursue it doggedly as any Greenlander would on the hunt to survive with a tenacity that perplexes the Danes in the story.

Balman 7 Reading Guide 1. The White Palace

We live in the White Palace. On a piece of donated land the Housing Authority has put up a row of prefabricated white concrete boxes, for which it received an award from the Association for the Beautification of the Capital. The whole thing, including the prize, makes a cheap and flimsy impression, but theres nothing trivial about the rent, which is so high that the only ones who can afford to live here are people like Juliane, whom the state is supporting; the mechanic, who had to take what he could get; and those living on the edge, like myself. So the nickname, the White Palace, is something of an insult to those of us who live here, but still basically appropriate The White Palace is located right on Copenhagen Harbor (Heg 6)

Figure 1. Tegnestuen Vandkunsten, The Copenhagen Housing Project (aka, The White Palace)

Balman 8 The project consists of 120 flats, half of them social housing and half of them private, and a communal house placed out in the copenhagen harbor. the context is characterized by large scale structures and a windblown openness, into which the project introduces a smaller scale and ordered spaces. It is result of a 2003 competition which had an unusual brief, partly in the 50/50 social housingprivate ownership mix but not least in the fact that the copenhagen harbor authorities had donated an area of water for the competition as they wanted a model project to boost development of this part of the harbor. The idea was that the money saved from not having to buy land could instead pay for a large landfill that would accommodate buildings and cars. our proposal was to forget the landfill and to build an artificial island in the form of a one-story parking house to get rid of the cars that plague the spaces between our houses and to get closer to the water (Vandkunsten). 2. The Drunk Greenlander

Juliane Christiansen, Isaiahs mother, is a strong endorsement for the curative powers of alcohol. When shes sober, she is stiff, silent, and inhibited. When shes drunk, she is lively and happy as a clam. Because she took the disulfiram this morning and has been drinking on top of the pills, so to speak, since she returned from the hospital this beautiful transformation naturally appears through a veil of the overall poisoning of the organism. And yet she is feeling markedly better. Smilla, she says, I love you. They say that people drink a lot in Greenland. That is a totally absurd understatement. People drink a colossal amount. Thats why my relationship to alcohol is the way it is. Whenever I feel the urge for something stronger than herbal tea, I always remember what went on before the voluntary liquor rationing in Thule (Heg 24, italics mine)

I remembered this particular passage/exchange because I had to look up disulfiram. From PubMed, Disulfiram [brand name, Antabuse] is used to treat chronic alcoholism. It causes unpleasant effects when even small amounts of alcohol are consumed. These effects include flushing of the face, headache, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, weakness, blurred vision, mental confusion, sweating, choking, breathing difficulty, and anxiety. These effects begin about 10 minutes after alcohol enters the body and last for 1 hour or more. Disulfiram is not a cure for alcoholism, but discourages drinking. After Id done my research, I thought it interesting example of a stereotype as mentioned by Madsen and Sullivan (see #15, Facts). According to his Facebook page, Peter Heg is Danish and was born in Copenhagen, Denmark (Peter Heg).

Balman 9 3. Northern Lights?

Its so bright. Some years ago they measured the light at Siorapaluk in Greenland. From December to February, when the sun is gone. People imagine eternal night. But there are stars and the moon, and now and then the northern lights. And the snow. They registered the same amount of lumens as outside a medium-sized provincial town in Denmark (Heg 8).

According to Google Earth, Siorapaluk is just about three miles west of Qaanaaq and about sixty-five miles north of Thule (see #13, Facts). According to the United States Air Force welcome packet for personal transitioning to the base, you cannot see the Northern Lights from Thule even as it is about five hundred miles too far north in latitude to see them. They also point out that if by some chance you would happen to catch a glimpse, they would properly be referred to as Southern Lights (United States 25). 4. Whats an amaat?

My mother is sitting next to me, quite still. And she looks at me as if seeing something for the first time. I dont know what it was that stopped me. Compassion is not a virtue in the Arctic. It amounts to a kind of insensitivity: a lack of feeling for the animals, the environment, and the nature of necessity. Smilla, she says, I have carried you in amaat (Heg 35).

The amaat is a kind of seal-skin coat worn by the Inuit women. It has an oversized hood (picture a hooded sweatshirt) attached to it where infants were placed. The woman then drew the drawstrings tight and tied them in frontcarrying her infant very much like the Native American women did with the papoose (Clothing from East Greenland.).

Figure 2. Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden, Clothing from East Greenland.

Balman 10 5. Whats she talking about?

The wind is blowing off the island, a north wind, avangnaq [a wind from the north]. This crystallizes into another word, and at first there is only the internal sound, as if it were spoken by someone else, someone inside me. Pirhirhuq, snowstorm weather. I shake my head. Were not in Thule; the weather is different here. My exhausted system is creating phantoms (Heg 441). Then my mother is behind me. She knows whats happening, she has known it for some time. She talks to meshe who is usually so taciturn. She gives me a box on the ear, part violence, part caress. What kind of wind is it, Smilla? Its kanangnaq [snow wind]. Thats wrong, Smilla, youre asleep. No, Im not. The wind is faint and damp, the ice must have just started breaking up. Speak politely to your mother, Smilla. Youve learned rudeness from qallunaaq [a nonInuit, especially someone of European descent] (Heg 445).

I found a handy glossary for all the Inuit terms in the book. Rather than list them all, Ill just link to them here so you can reference them as you read if you like.

Balman 11 Final Thoughts In closing, this is the first work of Peter Hegs that Ive read, and while I found this story to be less than perfectseveral times I was required to suspend disbeliefit was obvious to me that he is a very talented writer. Just consider this passage of Hegs which is one of my favorites in this book: There are mornings when it feels as if you rise up to the surface through a mud bath. With your feet stuck in a block of cement. When you know that youve expired in the night and have nothing to be happy about except the fact that at least youve already died so they cant transplant your lifeless organs. Six out of seven mornings are like that. The seventh is like today. I wake up feeling crystal-clear. I climb out of bed as if I had some reason to get up. I do the four yoga exercises I managed to learn before I received the eightieth reminder from the library, and they sent a messenger, and I had to pay such a big fine that I might just as well have bought the book (Heg 135). Finally, if military history interests you, specifically the history of Peterson Air Force Base in Thule, Greenland, spend some a few minutes reading the handbook referenced in the bibliography under United States and which can be found here as a .pdf document. I found it fascinating as it also gives you a very good idea what its like to live in Thule today and you can almost close your eyes and picture yourself there with Smilla. Happy Reading!

Balman 12 Works Cited BBC News. Timeline: Greenland. BBC News. BBC News, 10 Jan. 2012. Web. 21 Jan. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1023448.stm>. BBC News. Regions and Territories: Greenland. BBC News. BBC News, 10 Jan. 2012. Web. 21 Jan. 2012. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1023393.stm>. Clothing from East Greenland. Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://www.rmv.nl/publicaties/2groenland/e/e6da.html>. Greenland. CIA World Factbook. Washington: CIA, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 14 January 2012. Greenland. The Columbia Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia University Press, 2008. Credo Reference. Web. 14 January 2012. Greenlanders. Cassells Peoples, Nations and Cultures. London: Cassell, 2005. Credo Reference. Web. 14 January 2012. Danes. Cassells Peoples, Nations and Cultures. London: Cassell, 2005. Credo Reference. Web. 14 January 2012. Denmark. CIA World Factbook. Washington: CIA, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 14 January 2012. Denmark. Philips Encyclopedia 2008. London: Philips, 2008. Credo Reference. Web. 14 January 2012. Denmark. The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather guide. Abington: Helicon, 2010. Credo Reference. Web. 14 January 2012. Heg, Peter. Smillas Sense of Snow. New York: Delta Trade Paperbacks, 1993. Print. Madsen, Lars, and Kimberly Sullivan. Greenlanders in Denmark: A Realistic Perspective of a Varied Group by Lars Madsen, Kimberly Sullivan. Humanity in Action. 2003. Web. 16 Jan. 2012. <http://www.humanityinaction.org/knowledgebase/275-greenlanders-indenmark-a-realistic-perspective-of-a-varied-group>. Peter Heg. Facebook. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://www.facebook.com/pages/PeterH%C3%B8eg/109609169066083>. Petersen, Robert. Colonialism As Seen From a Former Colonized Area. Arctic Anthropology 32.2 (1995): 118-26. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Jan. 2012. <http://library.esc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db= a9h&AN=9512292534&site=ehost-live>.

Balman 13 PubMed Health. Disulfiram. U.S. National Library of Medicine. National Center for Biotechnology Information, 1 Sept. 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000726/>. United States. U.S. Air Force. Peterson Air Force Base. Newcomers Welcome Package. Web. 21 Jan. 2012. <http://www.peterson.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-100412-027.pdf>. Vandkunsten, Tegnestuen. Copenhagen Harbor Housing Project. Architecture Lab. Web. 29 Jan. 2012. <http://architecturelab.net/2009/11/copenhagen-harbor-housing-project-bytegnestuen-vandkunsten/>. Vandkunsten, Tegnestuen. The Copenhagen Housing Project. 2009. Photograph. Architecture Lab, Copenhagen, Denmark. Weigert, Hans W. Iceland, Greenland And The United States. Foreign Affairs 23.1 (1944): 112-122. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Jan. 2012.

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