Familiar Ilulissat

I'm back in Ilulissat and will be heading out to the field tomorrow morning. I find it interesting to see how my perception of Greenland, especially Ilulissat, changes with each visit. It's becoming more familiar - I no longer have the urge to take photos of every thing I see. This doesn't mean that I no longer find it interesting and beautiful. I also don't take that many photos when I'm in Fairbanks, but I like it there as well.

My initial attitude towards Greenland and Greenlanders was probably too romantic. The Greenland of my imagination no longer exists, at least not in the big town of Ilulissat. Life here really isn't that much different than life anywhere else. The culture has been strongly Danish-ized: pretty much everything about life in Ilulissat has been affected by Danish culture. I'm very curious to see how this changes in the future. How will Greenlandic culture evolve under globalization, climate warming, and rising fuel prices? The problems facing Greenland are very similar to the problems facing Alaska. The lack of resources, harsh climate, and large distances makes it very difficult, in my mind, for a modern western culture to survive.

I'll be done with field work in a little over two weeks. Then I head to Frankfurt to meet some friends and to Limerick, Ireland for a glaciology conference. Looking forward to both of those trips.