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Toxic Blubber and Seal Skin Bikinis, or: How Green Is Greenland? Ecology in Contemporary Film and Art

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Book cover Arctic Environmental Modernities

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History ((PSWEH))

Abstract

This chapter offers a nuanced complement to an understanding of ecological discourses and ecocriticism in the anthropogenic Arctic by focusing on Greenlandic actors and agency as represented by selected recent Greenlandic and international documentary films and art works. These representations draw on local or indigenous environmental knowledge as well as on globalized discourses about Arctic natural resources, climate change, and pollution. The films and art works presented by the author portray Greenlanders as global citizens who self-consciously—and with a sense of humor—weigh the potential hazards of resource extraction and global warming against the desire for postcolonial national self-determination.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Christina Just, Jan van den Berg, Anders Graver, Pipaluk de Groot, Aviaja Lyberth Hauptmann, Aká Hansen, and Bolatta Silis Høegh for support and helpful comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, 1102, 0317, Oslo, Norway

    Lill-Ann Körber

Authors
  1. Lill-Ann Körber
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Lill-Ann Körber

  2. Department of Film and Media, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Scott MacKenzie

  3. School of Modern Languages, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Anna Westerståhl Stenport

Art Works

Art Works

Bolatta Silis Høegh: Haveforeningen “Sisimiut”Anno 2068 (Allotment Society “Sisimiut” in the Year 2068, 2009/10).

Greenland Year Zero (Anders Graver, Niels Bjørn, DK 2011, 26 min): www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi3854999065

Green Land/Nuna Qorsooqqittoq/Grøn Land (Aká Hansen/Tumit Production, GL 2009, 24 min): www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bTuZNxvGj4&index=2&list=PLJ5eAl_e_VbzuSz-_S3WfMpp8ybY8upZJ

Silent Snow (Jan van den Berg, Pipaluk Knudsen-Ostermann, NL 2011, 71 min)

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Körber, LA. (2017). Toxic Blubber and Seal Skin Bikinis, or: How Green Is Greenland? Ecology in Contemporary Film and Art. In: Körber, LA., MacKenzie, S., Westerståhl Stenport, A. (eds) Arctic Environmental Modernities. Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39116-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39116-8_9

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-39115-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-39116-8

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

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