NAJA ILLERIS

Ilisimatusarfik – University of Greenland

Local museums in Greenland between community and research

The local museums in Greenland – around 16, the National Museum and Archives in Nuuk not withstanding – are all community-based in so far as they have been initiated locally, and are financed and governed mainly by the local municipalities. Collections are primarily local, often covering a large time span. Museums differ in their approaches to collecting, registering, research, and providing access to the material, as well as in the degree of involvement with the local communities.

While this variety may be seen as a positive resource for Greenland, it also poses certain problems to researchers wishing to make use of museums. With a newly created three-year position, based at Ilisimatusarfik, the Commission for Scientific Research in Greenland aims to ease the accessibility of collections at local museums in Greenland. But museums also strive for community commitment to cultural heritage. When local expectations to the work of museums are disappointed, these efforts may be in vain. Considerations such as these form the point of departure for my work the coming three years, and the paper will thus have a double focus; it will reflect on ways to carry out this work. And it will discuss ways for museums to handle the dual tasks of being at the disposal of researchers – Greenlandic and others – and communicating cultural heritage to the local community, involving this community in the work of the museums.

Outcomes and transferability

The paper will provide material for discussion about museums and cultural centres in small indigenous communities. Local museums in Greenland play a role in nation-building and national identity as well as in local identity, communicating knowledge about ‘national’ and local cultural heritage. On a local level, conflicts may arise between indigenous (and tourist!) expectations of museums communicating an image of traditional Inuit culture on the one hand and wishes of museum workers to show more nuanced examples of modern and recent culture on the other. On a national (and international) level, museums may experience conflicting requirements from local communities and researchers. A discussion comparing different approaches across the Arctic to these challenges will probably be fruitful to all parties.

Relation to conference theme

As noted above, local museums in Greenland are community-based. Much of the work carried out by museums involves local (indigenous) people; this includes the collecting of items and oral material. To a certain extent, Greenlandic and Danish museum leaders in Greenland will try to design and carry out their work in cooperation with local communities. Local initiatives in the cultural area are supported by museum leaders. However, they might encounter both a lack of interest in cultural heritage and some reserve regarding information on cultural habits. Whether this derives from earlier (or present) over-exploitation by Western researchers is an open question which will be interesting to discuss during the conference.