Identity and acculturation: The case of food consumption by Greenlanders in Denmark

Executive summary 1. The paper focuses on the acculturation strategies employed by Greenlandic consumers living in Denmark and in particular how food products enter into a discourse of identity construction. The study of Greenlandic consumers in Denmark provides insight into acculturation processes for consumers with a more or less dual cultural background (due to the strong Danish cultural influence in Greenland). This duality of cultural identity means that Greenlandic immigrants’ consumption reflects a well-known negotiation of Danish and Greenlandic consumer cultures under new conditions, rather than a classic acculturation process as in, eg, Peñalosa’s (1994) study of Mexican immigrants in the United States. 2. Our research is based on depth interviews with 20 Greenlandic consumers living in Denmark. It demonstrates how food products are given another symbolic meaning when consumers cross cultural borders between Denmark and Greenland and how food products become part of a discourse of identity. The interviews focused on border crossings between the two cultures, consumption patterns in the two cultures, special meanings linking certain types of consumer behaviour to one culture or the other, and expectations for the future development of a “Greenlandic consumer society”. A trained member of the Greenlandic community made the interviews to ensure maximum empathy between interviewer and informant. 3. The informants had a clear dichotomous explanation of Greenlandic versus Danish food culture. In general, Greenlandic and Danish culture were organised around the natural versus the cultural. Greenlandic culture, and the Greenlandic society, is organised around the natural environments in which the Greenlanders live. The provision of food is seen as the major organising vehicle for the Greenlandic society in that social relations are structured around the acquisition, consumption and disposal of food. 4. Food consumption in Greenlandic food culture was organised around experience of scarcity – scarcity of the provisions of the Greenlandic natural environment as well as the provisions available in the retail environment. The experience of Danish food culture was dominated by a discourse of abundance – although the informants experienced scarcity of Greenlandic food products when in Denmark. 5. The symbolic values of Greenlandic food were tied to authenticity, and consumption of Greenlandic food was often associated with festivity. Danish food was characterised as exotic and was seen as more utilitarian. The informants’ food discourse was analysed according to James’ (1996) four categories of food discourse (Global Food, Nostalgic Food, Exotic Food and Creolized Food). This showed how the meaning of authentic and exotic foods are fluid as new food ingredients move from one discourse to another and thereby become authenticized.