Keynote about emotional ties in the North Atlantic region at the Royal Academy of Science and Letters
On the 300 year anniversary of Hans Egede’s arrival in Greenland Aalborg University hosted a three-day conference in Copenhagen about the intertwined histories of the two countries.
In our keynote address we presented some of the key contributions of our book Denmark and the New North Atlantic. To us it is essentail that the relationship between the center of the former Danish empire and its subordinates have rested on varying degrees of asymmetric power relations that are intertwined with political as well as emotional bonds. Insight into the affective aspects of the power dynamics and discourses of empire is necessary for understanding the history of the region as well as the complex present relations between the countries. Investigating these, we have not been able to avoid addressing tender points, such as mutual stereotyping that reflects racialized discourses of the past. This is in contrast to the dominating political rhetoric in the North Atlantic countries, where the ‘good neighbors’ metaphor prevails. It is our conviction, however, that only by addressing these darker sides of the cultural heritage can we put an end to them “working through concealment”, as Sara Ahmed puts it (2004).
Ann-Sofie Gremaud 