Politics of Postcoloniality and Sustainability in the Arctic

The project analyzes the diverse political consequences of 'sustainability' becoming pivotal for politics in the Arctic - without a consensus on what the concept should refer to. Changes to the climate, global power balances, demands for natural resources, and aspirations for self-determination set the stage for new political struggles - in Greenland and across the Arctic. Central to the struggles is the notion of the Arctic as a special place characterized by a nature at once hostile and fragile. Key questions are: How do Arctic sustainability strategies link and prioritize global, regional, national and local scales? What should be made sustainable - in relation to what? How should sustainability be realized - and who should be responsible for realizing the right kind of change? How are struggles over rights and resources reconfigured when the concept of sustainability redefines concepts of identity and development?