Strawberry Fields (Not) Forever?:“Iceberg Reflections” on PerformingGreenland

Since 1954, the Danish constitution tells that Greenland is part of the Danish Commonwealth together with the Faroe Islands and Denmark. Although the United Nations has focused on Greenland’s colonial status, since the end of WWII—the 1979 Greenlandic home rule referendum, followed by the 2009 Greenlandic self-government referendum, means that by law the Greenlandic people is considered an independent indigenous people—its colonial history remains evident in today’s cultural landscape of theatre and performances in and about Greenland. These circumstances require us to reconsider theatre historiography regarding colonial and environmental issues from a Nordic perspective. The aim of this essay is, therefore, to critically throw light on some examples of how Greenland in contemporary theatre performances deal with climate issues and internal colonization.