New research series: The crime scene Greenland

How do we understand crime in a Greenlandic context - in the past, today, and in the stories we tell about ourselves?

That question is the central theme of this year’s edition of Ilisimatusarfik’s publication Grønlandsk Kultur- og Samfundsforskning 2026 (Greenlandic Cultural and Social Research 2026) which has just been launched - with a foreword by Annemette Hejlsted.

Throughout the year, new articles will be published on an ongoing basis as part of a comprehensive series entitled The crime scene Greenland - fiction and reality. This series brings together research contributions from across various disciplines that examine crime, perceptions of justice, and the narratives that shape our views on them.

The series covers a wide range of topics. From historical analyses of norms and justice prior to colonisation to contemporary studies of how Greenland is portrayed in film and television. The contributions draw on legal history, social sciences, literary studies and media studies, amongst other disciplines - and together offer a nuanced perspective on crime in both reality and fiction.

The theme stems from Ilisimatusarfik’s Arctic Crime research group, which has been working since 2021 to explore precisely these issues in a Greenlandic context.

You can already dive into the first articles:

• Retsbevidsthed og social normering i Grønland før den europæiske kolonisation (Legal awareness and social norms in Greenland prior to European colonisation) by Morten Nornild

• Tracing crime in Greenland-set feature films and TV series by Anders Grønlund

More articles will follow throughout the year - and together they paint a topical and thought-provoking picture of the role of crime in both society and storytelling.

Visit the site for Grønlandsk Kultur- og Samfundsforskning 2026 (Greenlandic Cultural and Social Research 2026) now, and start reading.