Abstract
Greenland represents one of the most comprehensive forms of Indigenous self-determination, especially after the enactment of the Act on Self-Government in 2009. How did Greenland move from Danish colonial rule to increasingly autonomous rule under the Home Rule Act of 1979 and the Act on Self-Government in 2009? As I answer this question, I highlight significant achievements in land management, language revitalization, civic participation, and cultural identity, alongside persistent challenges such as systemic discrimination, inadequate implementation of free, prior, and informed consent, and institutional dependency on Danish governance structures. Greenland’s trajectory shows how Indigenous mobilization can reshape governance, while also underscoring the complexities of creating sustainable, autonomous structures of self-rule.
Indigenous peoples governed themselves for centuries prior to colonization by the Western imperial powers that dispossessed them of their land and ability to continue their own government. These peoples, who preexist the colonial structures that have been imposed upon them, have now found themselves in a multi-generational struggle against governmental and economic systems of law, justice, and power that do not align with their conceptions of knowledge and values. In order to resolve this misalignment, Indigenous peoples across the world have demanded that their right to self-determination be restored by the governments that continue to impede upon this right. Self-determination is an Indigenous people’s autonomy in its internal governance and ability to establish a relationship of mutual recognition with the state.1 In practice, self-determination often involves Indigenous peoples gaining control of their land, creating community governance systems and policies that align with their values, facilitating the passing down of culture, participating in free, prior, and informed consent on topics relevant to their affairs, and interacting with the state as an equal partner rather than a subject of domination.
Here, I focus on the Kalaallit Inuit of Greenland, examining what self-determination looks like in practice on the world’s largest island. I explore how Greenland’s government has pursued political autonomy, cultural revitalization, and institutional reform, as well as how ongoing challenges reveal the unfinished nature of decolonization.
The Long Road to Self-Determination:
In 2025, Greenland is home to approximately 57,000 people, of whom 88.9% identify as Indigenous, primarily Kalaallit Inuit.2 The Kalaallit Inuit people have inhabited Greenland since at least 1150.3 For over 200 years, Greenland was governed as a Danish colony. After 1946, the United Nations (UN) listed Greenland as a “non-self-governing territory”, i.e. a territory “whose people have not yet attained a full measure of self-government” and are under the control of an “administering power”, in this case Denmark.4 Starting in 1954, the government of Denmark passed a constitutional amendment that integrated Greenland from a colonial territory into the core Danish realm, both giving Greenland representatives in Danish Parliament and starting a period of “Danification” that brought forced relocations, centralized education policies, and the influx of Danish settlers. While these changes disrupted Indigenous life, Denmark argued that Greenland’s representation in Danish government fulfilled their responsibility to provide Greenland with self-determination and had the United Nations remove Greenland from its list of non-self-governing territories without consulting Greenlanders directly.5
As a result of these injustices, the people of Greenland mobilized to forge a political path to self-determination. Denmark passed the Greenland Home Rule Act in 1979, which established a Greenlandic parliament and provided the region with a higher level of input on education, health, fisheries, and the environment.6 However, Rauna Kuokkanen, a Research Professor of Arctic Indigenous Studies at the University of Lapland and Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto, described this period of governance as “a delegated authority with sovereignty vested firmly in Danish crown,” representing the frustrating lack of true representation and self-determination under the Home Rule scheme.7
Greenland’s internal government continued to push for greater independence from Denmark’s central government and received overwhelming support from the Greenlandic people. A 2008 referendum in Greenland, in which 75% of the population voted for self-government, led to action by the Danish government.8 After the passing of the Act on Self-Government by the Danish Parliament in 2009, Greenland began exercising an increasing level of self-determination, with control over the legal system, certain economic relations, language, and internal affairs being handed over from Denmark to Greenland’s government. These reforms have led to a revitalization of Inuit culture, the Greenlandic language, and a general sense of national identity. Moreover, the Act on Self-Government created a clear pathway to complete independence from Denmark, which has led to ongoing internal debates on the island regarding whether to pursue this option. Independence would be actualized via a referendum in Greenland, which must be initiated via a vote in the Greenlandic Parliament. If the referendum is successful, full sovereignty of Greenland and its territory would be transferred from the Danish to Greenlandic government.9 Throughout these movements, the primary goals of the Kalaallit Inuit people leading the push for self-determination have focused on reversing colonially-imposed structures, increasing jurisdictional autonomy, and gaining the ability to control the course of the nation’s future. The result has been a political system, with elections, parties, and levels of municipal and island-wide governance that are based-on but independent of the national Danish government. These reforms reshaped Greenland’s political systems and laid the groundwork for greater autonomy.
Self-determination and Collective Lands:
Self-determination in Greenland is most clearly reflected in the management of land. Unlike Denmark, where private ownership dominates, Greenland’s land remains entirely collectively owned. Within this framework of collective ownership, there are two types of usage: general territorial rights, in which every settlement determines how land is utilized, and preferential land rights, which are passed down ancestrally. Thus, activities and construction on most land require approval from either the local municipality or the central Greenlandic government.10 This framework protects cultural continuity, secures intergenerational stability, and prevents displacement. It represents a striking departure from colonial models that commodified land and imposed individual property rights. This style of land allocation is based on traditional practices that have spanned thousands of years, and has become increasingly formalized and protected in both the 1979 and 2009 laws. This system of land management provides a sense of long-term stability to communities, as they can continue passing down traditions and culture without fear of displacement or the weaponization of property ownership against them (eviction, sale of land by government, etc.).11
Self-determination and Free, Prior, and Informed Consent:
At the same time, the governance of mineral resources illustrates the difficulties of translating autonomy into practice. Interestingly, economically extractive processes and industries have, in fact, increased following the passage of the Act on Self-Government. The 2009 Mineral Resources Act initially lacked provisions for consultation, and later reforms in 2014 introduced only vague requirements.12 Communities affected by large-scale projects have often found themselves sidelined. Short consultation periods, inaccessible technical reports, and the dominance of foreign companies reveal gaps between the principle of free, prior, and informed consent and its actual implementation.13 Greenland’s struggle in this area demonstrates the tension between economic development and Indigenous sovereignty.
Self-determination and Linguistic Sovereignty:
One of the most visible aspects of self-determination in Greenland is linguistic sovereignty. Greenlandic is the language of the Indigenous peoples of Greenland, with West Greenlandic being the primary dialect spoken by the largest Ingenious group the Kalaallit Inuit and two other dialects (East and Thule) spoken more sparsely by other Originary peoples.14 In 2009, Greenlandic, replaced Danish as the island’s official language. To signal this shift, institutions of power (Parliament, universities, etc.) on the island also changed their names from Danish to Greenlandic.15 The implementation of Greenlandic as the official language significantly improved access to public services since 70% of the population only speaks Greenlandic.16 This change corrects the historic wrong of the 20th century, when Danish dominated education and public services, often preventing Inuit children from learning their mother tongue.17 Nowadays, the Greenlandic language is a cornerstone of public life in Greenland, reinforcing identity and cultural resilience.
Self-determination and Civic Life:
Civic engagement has been high, as the typical 72% voter turnout rate surpasses the global average of 60.9% and is above many countries, like the United States and most of Europe.18 This high level of civic engagement across the island marks a positive change, as it was not seen prior to Greenland’s self-determination being implemented. For instance, the northern and eastern parts of the island used to have no representation in the Provincial Council, which was the predecessor to the institutions that emerged following the restoration of self-determination. Nowadays, civic engagement is more universal, existing even in sparsely populated and remote areas, as all voting-eligible Greenlanders elect representatives for both the Greenlandic and Danish Parliaments.19
Remaining Challenges:
Despite progress, inequalities continue to shape daily life in Greenland. Reports by the United Nations highlight systemic discrimination in the public sphere and the lack of properly implemented free, prior, and informed consent as injustices that continue to persist.20 Greenlanders are more likely to experience homelessness, have higher dropout rates, and disproportionate governmental intervention in family life. Many of these challenges are amplified by institutional discrimination, such as limited services in Greenlandic and biases in the Danish welfare system. These systemic issues reveal how colonial legacies persist even under self-government, constraining the full realization of self-determination.
Another challenge lies in Greenland’s inherited political structures. Since Denmark resisted acknowledging the distinct status of Indigenous peoples, Greenland’s institutions largely replicate Danish parliamentary and legal systems. This has produced a paradox: although Greenland is governed by Inuit leaders, the framework itself is not rooted in Inuit traditions of governance. As a result, decision-making can reproduce colonial dynamics, such as insufficient consultation with communities. Furthermore, reliance on Danish civil servants and funding underscores the difficulty of building independent institutions capable of sustaining self-rule.
In conclusion, Greenland’s self-determination provides a vivid example of the importance of formalized documentation that enshrines and protects a people’s right to govern themselves. Legislative events like the passage of the Act on Self-Government in 2009 fundamentally changed the way Indigenous Greenlanders interacted with the state and actualized their rights. While challenges continue to persist, the strides made in Greenland represent one of, if not the most, comprehensive and solidified forms of Indigenous self-determination. As Indigenous peoples around the world seek to reclaim their rights, Greenland’s journey illuminates both the possibilities and potential limits of decolonization in the twenty-first century.
At the time of publication, the United States under President Donald Trump has been discussing a possible takeover of Greenland due to the island’s strategic position in the Arctic, igniting protests in Greenland and objection from Greenlandic, Dutch, and European governmental leaders.21 Despite the strides made in formalizing self-determination, the continued risk of Indigenous Greenlanders being subjected to imperial and colonial rule highlights how geopolitical influences may setback the rights of the Kalaallit peoples, especially as their input may go unheard in this disagreement between the US and Denmark.
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Works cited
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Calí Tzay, José Francisco. “Visit to Denmark and Greenland.” New York, NY: United Nations, 2023. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/54/31/Add.1
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“Country Profile: Greenland.” International Foundation for Electoral Systems. Accessed April 20, 2025. https://www.electionguide.org/countries/id/86/.
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Tekeli, Maya “‘Yankee, Go Home’: Greenlanders Protest Trump’s Takeover Plans.” The New York Times, January 17, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/world/europe/greenland-denmark-protest-trump-takeover.html.
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Sheryl R. Lightfoot, Global Indigenous Politics: A Subtle Revolution (London: Routledge, 2016), 10. ↩︎
American Indian Law Program, “Self-Determining Greenland: A Primer” (Boulder, CO: University of Colorado Law School, 2025), 1. ↩︎
Sarah Fullerton, “Asta Mønsted Reveals Greenland Through the Inuit Oral Tradition,” UC Berkeley Research, February 13, 2025. ↩︎
For the UN definition of “non-self-governing territories” and “administering powers” and their present day lists, see, https://www.un.org/dppa/decolonization/en/nsgt, last consulted on January 8, 2026. ↩︎
Dorothée Céline Cambou, “Disentangling the Conundrum of Self-Determination and Its Implications in Greenland,” Polar Record 56 (2020): 3, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0032247420000169. ↩︎
Cambou, “Disentangling the Conundrum,” 1. ↩︎
Rauna Kuokkanen, “Indigenous Self-Government in the Arctic: Assessing the Scope and Legitimacy in Nunavut, Greenland and Sápmi,” in Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic (London: Routledge, 2020), https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429270451-18. ↩︎
Cambou, “Disentangling the Conundrum,” 7. ↩︎
Rauna Kuokkanen, “‘To See What State We Are In’: First Years of the Greenland Self-Government Act and the Pursuit of Inuit Sovereignty,” Ethnopolitics 16 (2015): 179–95, https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2015.1074393. ↩︎
World Heritage Centre, “Kujataa Greenland: Norse and Inuit Farming at the Edge of the Ice Cap,” UNESCO, 2017, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1536/ ↩︎
American Indian Law Program, “Self-Determining Greenland,” 1. ↩︎
Maria Ackrén, “Public Consultation Processes in Greenland Regarding the Mining Industry,” Arctic Review on Law and Politics 7, no. 1 (May 23, 2016), ↩︎
Ackrén, “Public Consultation Processes” ↩︎
Regional Information Centre for Western Europe, “The Politics of Language in Greenland,” United Nations, February 19, 2021, https://unric.org/en/the-politics-of-language-in-greenland/. ↩︎
Kuokkanen, “Indigenous Self-Government.” ↩︎
Regional Information Centre for Western Europe, “The Politics of Language in Greenland.” ↩︎
Regional Information Centre for Western Europe, “The Politics of Language in Greenland.” ↩︎
“Country Profile: Greenland,” International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed April 20, 2025, https://www.electionguide.org/countries/id/86/. ↩︎
Jens Elo Rytter, “Self-Determination of Colonial Peoples – The Case of Greenland Revisited,” Nordic Journal of International Law (2008): 388, https://doi.org/10.1163/157181008X374889. ↩︎
José Francisco Calí Tzay, “Visit to Denmark and Greenland” (New York, NY: United Nations, 2023): 1, https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/54/31/Add.1. ↩︎
Maya Tekeli, “‘Yankee, Go Home’: Greenlanders Protest Trump’s Takeover Plans,” The New York Times, January 17, 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/world/europe/greenland-denmark-protest-trump-takeover.html. ↩︎
Citation
Anta, Darius. 2025. 'Decolonizing the Arctic: the right to Self-Determination of the Kalaallit Inuit of Greenland'. Dispossessions in the Americas. https://dia.upenn.edu/en/content/AntaD001/








