On 08.November 2022 I successfully defended my PhD thesis at the Anthropology Department at Aarhus University in Aarhus, Denmark. The summary can be found in English and Kalaallisut down below. For a copy of the thesis frame or the articles, please contact me directly: mail@annechahine
In search of decolonial ways: Multimodal and collaborative knowledge-making in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)
Nunasiaateqarunnaarnissamut periuutsinik ujaarlerneq: Multimedianik suleqatigiinnertalimmillu paasisanik saqqummiussineq Kalaallit Nunaanni
Assessment committee: Sevasti-Melissa Nolas, Reader, Department of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, Tomás Criado, Senior Researcher, Department of European Ethnography, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Andreas Roepstorff, Professor School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, DK (Chair)
Supervision: Principal supervisor Ton Otto, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Aarhus University, Co-Supervisor Rachel Charlotte Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Digital Design and Information Studies, Aarhus University, Co-Supervisor Birgit Kleist Pedersen, Professor Emirata, Institute of Culture, Language and History, Ilisimatusarfik University of Greenland
ENGLISH SUMMARY
This dissertation offers a reflection on the particularities of executing a research project with young Kalaallit adults in their twenties and early thirties in Kalaallit Nunaat and Denmark, research sites marked by contemporary colonial dependencies, structures, and domination. It uses multimodality and collaboration as overall frames to think with and to (co-)create knowledge. The research is based on a variety of empirical materials generated from multi-sited fieldwork between 2018 and 2021 in Nuuk, Kalaallit Nunaat (six months), Aarhus, Denmark (five months), and online (five months) using email, Zoom and virtual co-creation spaces. My interest revolves around the central question of how to do research in a more decolonial way by thinking along multimodal lines. To answer this question, I focus on three aspects: the consideration of decoloniality as a given backdrop of the overall research design, the relevance of incorporating multimodality as an all-encompassing frame to think with and act upon, and the evaluation of collaboration as part of our research practices and relations.
This dissertation consists of four academic articles and an overall thesis frame that conceptualizes and contextualizes the work carried out in the articles. The frame begins with an opening chapter that gives insight into my own positionality as a researcher and its relevance to the overall research design. It continues with an introduction of the people I worked with, a brief overview of the historical and contemporary specifics of the Kalaallit-Danish relationship and the way knowledge is produced in that context and region, and it concludes with my research journey and an outline of the articles. Chapter 2 touches upon my understanding and usage of decoloniality and multimodality, two concepts that have deeply influenced and guided my overall research practice. Chapter 3 shows how these concepts are translated into specific methodological approaches and ways of co-creating knowledge as part of our research practice, centring three modes of engagement that became the focus of my interest: storytelling, letter writing and exhibition-making. I finalize the frame in Chapter 4, bringing theories and practices into dialogue once more, carving out the contributions that multimodality can make to decolonial approaches to knowledge production. The four articles can each be understood as one instance of searching for decolonial routes of knowledge-making and thinking through more reflective approaches to creating knowledge in Kalaallit Nunaat: by working collaboratively (Article 01); through co-creation and pluriversality (Article 02); by shifting the temporal frame (Article 03); or by engaging with storytelling to better understand community relations (Article 04).
KALAALLISUT EQIKKAANEQ
Una ilisimatuutut allaatigisaq kalaallit inuusuttut 20 missaaniit 30 missaata tungaanut ukiulinnik Kalaallit Nunaanni Danmarkimilu misissuinermik sulinermik eqqarsaatissiissineruvoq, misissuiffiit ullutsinni nunasiaataanermik maleruinernik, sannaanik taavalu naalagaaffinnik sunnerneqarnikunik imalik. Misissuinermi mediet assigiinngitsut suleqatigiinnerillu killissarititaasutut, isummersuutissatut taavalu ilisimasanik pilersitseqatigiinnissamut atorneqarput. Misissuineq ilisimatusarnermut atortussat piliarineqarsimasut assigiinngitsunik sammivilinnik 2018-miit 2021- mut Nuuk, Kalaallit Nunaat (qaammatit arfinillit), Aarhus, Danmark (qaammatit tallimat) taavalu nittartakkakkut (qaammatit tallimat) e-mail, Zoom aamma virtuel co-creations rum atorlugit aallunneqarpoq. Soqutiginninnera uani kaaviiaarsimavoq apeqqummut qitiusumut, qanutut ilisimatuutut dekolonialimik mediet assigiinngitsut atorlugit misissuisoqarsinnaanersoq. Apeqqut taanna akiniarlugu isikkiviit pingasut nakkutitut atorsimavakka: dekolonialitet eqqarsaatigineratigut misissuinissamut tunngavissatut atornissaa, mediet assigiinngitsut attuumassuteqarneranut killissaritinnissaannut qulangiisumik tunngaviginissai, taavalu ilisimatuutut misissuinermi suleqatigiinneq nalilersornissaa.
Una ilisimatuutut allaatigisaq ilanngutassianik sisamanik taavalu tunngaviusumik immikkuullarimmik killissarititarineqartumik, suliamut najoqqutassiarititatut ataqatigiissaarinertullu, imaqarpoq. Killissaritinneqartoq aallarniisumik ammaanneqarpoq, uanga ilisimatuutut misissuisutut inissisimaninnut misissuinerullu iluserisaanut paasisaqarfissaalluni. Inuit suleqatigisimasakka pillugit ilisaritinnerannut, naatsumik oqaluttuarisaanermut tunngasunik nalitsinnilu detaljenik Kalaallit- Qallunaallu akornanni pissutsit pillugit nalunaarsuinerit taavalu taakkununnga atatillugu ilisimasat qanoq sanaarineqartarnersut, uanga ilisimatuutut paasisassarsiornera pillugu taavalu najoqqutassiat pillugit najoqqutassianik naggaserneqarpoq. Kapitali aappaani uanga paasinninnera taavalu dekolonialitet atorneqarnera mediellu assigiinngitsut atorneqarneri, isummat imarisai uannut taavalu ilisimasarsiorninnut sunniingaatsiarsimasut pillugit taatsiarneqarput. Kapitali pingajuat takutippaa, uku isummat imarisai qanoq peqqissaarutinut timitalerneqarsinnaanersut taavalu ilisimasanik pilersitseqatigiissinnaanermut ilisimasarsiornermi isumaliutigineqarsinnaanersut, taavalu uanga soqutiginninnernut qitiusimasut pingasut: oqaluttualiorneq, allakkanik allaaserineq taavalu saqqummersitsinernik pilersitsineq qeqqanut inissippai. Killissarititaq naggaserpara kapitali sisamaanni, teoriit suleriaatsillu eqqartuinermut ilannguteqqillugit taavalu taperititaasut, mediat assigiinngitsut atorneqarneranni dekolonilitut paasisanik pilersitsinermi immikkoortillugit.
Taakku najoqqutassiat sisamat tamarmik immikkut dekolonialimik paasisanik pilersitsinermik eqqarsarnermillu eqqarsaatissiissutitullu sammisatut Kalaallit Nunaanni ilisimasanik pilersitsinermut paasineqarsinnaapput:: suleqatigiinneq (artikel 01); pilersitseqatigiinnermi taavalu pluriversalitet (artikel 02); piffissarititaasumi killigititaq nuutsinnera (artikel 03); imaluunniit oqaluttualiornermut pimoorussinermi inuiaqatigiinni atassuteqarnerit paasilluarniarlugit (artikel 04).
