Journal Articles

DIVERSITY AND DOMINANCE IN THE ARCTIC. ETHNIC RELATIONS IN THE GREENLANDIC BUREAUCRACY

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Public bureaucracies are increasingly characterized by employee diversity in terms of ethnicity. Investigating relations between ethnic groups in bureaucracies is therefore important. This article focuses on the particularly interesting case of the Greenlandic administration. Being a former Danish colony, Greenland still recruits bureaucrats from mainland Denmark. These work alongside locally hired employees resulting in an administration with different ethnicities, cultures and languages. The analysis of ethnic relations is based on 28 interviews with bureaucrats of Danish and Greenlandic origin. Even though overall relations are found to be largely harmonious, ethnicity makes a difference. Interviewees describe differences in ethnic traits and behaviour and processes of social categorization. Particularly among Greenlanders, Danes are described as dominant and this dominance is reinforced by co-variation between ethnicity, language skills and education. Finally, inter-group relations are found to vary with the numerical balance of ethnic groups in different parts of the bureaucracy.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Public Administration

Call Number

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Publisher

Hoboken, United States : Wiley-Blackwell., 2011

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

00333298

Classification

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Content Type

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Edition

Volume 89, Issue 2, June 2011, pages 522–536

Subject(s)

DIVERSITY AND DOMINANCE IN THE ARCTIC

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