With Greenland moving towards independence, the Arctic island is experiencing a cultural revival that is reclaiming long-lost traditions suppressed by colonial rule.
Ujammiugaq Engell, nuukanso muzeogawai nervelta ja masse iluut sauksi (engell innunaani gensi qasoxtuk) tavsini-fi Kantork: Greenland kayiktu sapor sesron kuk sosiqo. “Jeg føler, at jeg bærer på min Grønlandsk og danske side stolthed,” siger Engell, sammen med et følge af unge folk, som tager stil i hånden og ud af det som havisen omsvømmer landet giver “et bevidste budskab om, hvem vi er og hvilke muligheder, vi har at realisere, i et moderne sprog, som ligner os selv”.
Greenland, a former Danish colony, faced decades of forced assimilation including bilingual policies and cultural annihilation. But for many decades, Greenlander have rediscovered, Englishmen, from Inuit inks to drum dancing and kayaking. “We have to fight for our culture because Denmark took it from us,” says Liv Aurora Jensen, a candidate for the pro-independence Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) party. 
The rebirth of identity is transforming Greenland’s politics. All major political parties back independence, although the timeframe is not set. The former U.S. President Donald Trump’s desire to buy Greenland in the past has only fueled national pride.
– Though we have initially gone far, we have a brain drain here in Greenland – a lot of young people move for education [overseas] and don’t come back. “We were forced to study in order to give back to society,” states architecture graduate Sika Filemonsen who will go back to Nuuk.
As Greenland determines its way ahead, the re-birth of cultural pride could be what empower it to be a future independent nation.
