Do not step on the farmer's grass. On global food economy, inuit food security and sheep farming in south Greenland

Abstract

This is a thesis with a focus on Greenland as a part of the Inuit Nunaat, the Inuit Homeland. The thesis is about the importance of indigenous food, harvest and consumption. It is about connecting to indigenous cultures through food systems. Food systems that, in the case of Inuit, have sustained over thousands of years. Today this is not the case, and we are all consumers in what is called a global food economy. There is vast range of literature suggesting that many indigenous peoples would still choose an indigenous diet, and participate in the food production, instead of being alienated from it. However, indigenous food production is largely perceived as ineffective and also non-profitable, thus it has had to change from large-scale industrial projects and mono-crop commercial agriculture. This thesis aims to illuminate the reasons for Inuit food security beyond most often-stated reasons such as climate change or poverty. The argument set forth here is that indigenous people's food insecurity cannot be separated from the colonial history, nor the dominance of the global, capitalistic market forces: These issues being two sides of the same coin.