Modernization, as well as the rapid socioeconomic and political changes that have taken place in Greenland in the 20th century, have altered the interests and concerns of Greenland's hunters. For example, these changes can be observed in the way hunters divide a catch of beluga whales. This article focuses specifically on how beluga hunters have negotiated new ways of dividing the catch in order to respond to new needs and demands. Today, Greenland is a heterogeneous society with a number of different socioeconomic groups: a situation that has intensified conflicts and strategies based on social compartmentalization. The chosen strategies lead us to question the emphasis that social scientists usually place on community integration. Apart from considering local problems, hunters must also relate to a number of elaborate Home Rule regulations that influence their rights and control their activity. The Home Rule government has strengthened the regulations because biologists and international/regional management commissions have concluded that the stock of beluga whales is substantially depleted. The regional management commission, NAMMCO, thus warns that the present harvests are several times the sustainable yield, and, if continued, will likely lead to stock extinction within 20 years. This new concern has made it even more necessary to redefine the rules for catch division and make them locally flexible. The Home Rule regulations are discussed and compared to local ways of dealing with new concerns and interests.

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Background During the last decades, social and life-style changes in Greenland have led to an increase in the incidence of several non-communicable diseases. Our aim is to present the cancer incidence and mortality in Greenland and compare the results with the other Nordic countries. Methods The data stems from The Danish Cancer Registry and The Danish Register of Causes of Death. Comparable data on cancer incidence and mortality in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and Greenland are available through collaboration between Nordic Cancer Registries (NORDCAN). We included all individuals residing in Greenland and diagnosed with or died of a cancer from 1983 to 2014. Findings The total number of cancer cases in Greenland for the study period was 4716 and there were 3231 cancer deaths. Respiratory and gastrointestinal cancers had the highest incidence as well as mortality in Greenland for the entire time period and for both sexes. Compared to the other Nordic countries, Greenland had significantly higher incidence and mortality rates for several cancers. Cancer of the lip, oral cavity, and pharynx, respiratory cancer, and cancer of unknown sites had the highest incidence rate ratios (2.3–3.9) and mortality rate ratios (2.7–9.9) for both sexes. The time trend from 1983 to 2014 showed a significant increase in cancer incidence in Greenland with nearly the same incidence level as the other Nordic countries. While the cancer mortality decreased in the other Nordic countries during the time period studied, there was no change in the cancer-specific mortality in Greenland. Interpretations The trends in cancer incidence and mortality in Greenland compared to the other Nordic countries have not been reported earlier. These data underline a need to focus on cancer-specific mortality in Greenland and prevention of high-incidence cancers related to well-established risk factors.

In the ambitious strategy of Greenland to attract foreign companies to engage in extractive industries as a means to create increased national independence the question of minerals emerges as pivotal. The article investigates how two prominent Greenlandic premiers (2009–2014) translated hard rock into soft human welfare in a complex post-colonial context. The article develops the concept of “brokers of hope” which points the analytical attention to the entrepreneurial activities of future- and people-makers in a dense field of indigenous politics. By linking this concept to the idea of “resource materialities” it becomes possible to see resources as relational assemblages that are in a constant state of becoming and also to examine how different engagements with substances can make certain political struggles and political systems legitimate. Furthermore, the article investigates how these “brokers of hope” use the Chinese interests, and ideas of new cooperation with Chinese partners to underpin the intrinsic motivation to create new beginnings and thus to transform existing asymmetrical relations between Denmark and Greenland. This process is conceptualised as “double orientalism”. The article points out how hope and promise in two quite different ways are creatively used to make the future work in the present and how people and nations are made up in that process.