HOMO SAPIENNE: DIVE DEEPER INTO THE MODERN DAY YOUTH CULTURE OF GREENLAND
An individual featured in the #whatsinmybag series reveals more about life in modern Greenland via her popular novel Homo Sapienne. Niviaq Korneliussen’s bestseller in Greenland attracted so much attention that she was featured in The New Yorker as ‘Greenland’s unlikely literary star’.
Korneliussen’s novel follows five youth protagonists whose intertwining social and sexual relationships are explored in the urban setting of Nuuk. The stream-of-consciousness prose helps the reader to be in the characters’ shoes.
And you can imagine that reality inspired the prose: A lesbian herself, Korneliussen lets the characters learn more about identity and love through sometimes taboo experiences. One gets a glimpse of the youthful life in a small society where there is always three degrees of separation.
For example, Korneliussen writes in her book about how Nuuk is too small a place to avoid those you want don’t want to see, but too big a place to bump into people that you want to meet. The afterparty also functions as an important social meeting point.
“Bars close at 3am here, and if people haven’t gotten enough of partying then they need to go to an afterparty. It’s very peaceful and chaotic at the same time. People play music and enjoy life. You usually meet a lot of of new people there, and you can talk to them because you’re a little bit drunk.”
The book is available in Greenlandic and Danish, and is currently being translated into German and French. For now, you can find the first chapter available in English.
So for all of those armchair travellers out there, you can begin your exploration of modern day Nuuk through Homo Sapienne.
#WHATSINMYBAG
So who else can you meet in this photo series?
From a culinary chef, to a famous actress to an influential CCO, you can peek into the lives of different Greenlanders through their essential everyday items.
So go ahead and do that right now at Visit Greenland’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
