Hvordan fik den grønlandske elite magt? : En undersøgelse af hvordan grønlandske eliter søgte indflydelse under udvalgsarbejde om uddannelse, retspleje og politiske institutioner i første halvdel af 1900-tallet.

This thesis examines the visions of the Greenlandic/Greenlandic speaking elite in the committee work during diplomatic negotiations for laws concerning education, administration of justice and political institutions during the first half of the 20th century. The temporal span is one of immense development and the shift in the conditions for the materiel and economic fabric of Greenlandic society creates opportunity for re-negotiation of central elements of the relationship between Greenland and Denmark. This thesis hypothesis concerns the special conditions of the Greenlandic/Greenlandic speaking elite, and how they tried to gain influence on the development of Greenlandic society. Firstly, what made them a group? Because of their sociological conditions they needed to be distinguished from both Greenlanders and Danes alike. The implications of this point of departure are that this constructed group during the committee-based negotiations acted on self-interest which meant that in some questions they were likeminded with Danes and in some instances with the Greenlanders. Secondly, I find that sociological distinctions between the Greenlanders, Danes, and the constructed group of Greenlandic/Greenlandic speaking elite places the elite in a field of shared values with the other groups visualized in what I call the Greenlandic actors continuum. Thirdly, I find that the Greenlandic/Greenlandic speaking elite sought influence on the field of power through negotiations in a diplomatic field. Their reasoning in the field and the reason for their shared values with both Danes and Greenlanders were the split systems of education that they interacted with. That explains their fluctuating placement in the Greenlandic actors continuum and their strategy of integration with the goal of acquiring power and more political autonomy.