Danish young people's knowledge of Greenland and the Faroe Islands is still poor. A new report reveals that the Danish Youth Council is behind. Young people in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands have been asked what they know about each other and the Commonwealth, and whether they want to preserve the Commonwealth in the future.
The Sjómaq project under the Danish Youth Council is about creating ties between young people across Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Denmark. The project is a collaboration between youth organizations in the three countries. The picture is from one of their events in Greenland. Photo: ©Jens Ejnar Mølgaard, Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa
While young people in Greenland and the Faroe Islands learn about both Denmark and the Danish Commonwealth, knowledge of the other direction is very limited. More than half of the roughly 1,000 Danish young people in the survey say that they have either never or only once had education about the commonwealth.
Christine Ravn Lund. Photo: Dansk Ungdoms Fællesråd
That the figures are so high, Christine Ravn Lund, chairwoman of the Danish Youth Joint Council, is surprised.
It is a pity that Denmark has a marked lack of knowledge of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. I wanted to represent a generation that has better knowledge. But I also think it's nice to see that many young people want to increase knowledge and community across the countries, says 29-year-old Christine Ravn Lund.
The Kingdom of Denmark is centrally located in the Arctic. The three parts of the Kingdom – Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands – share a number of values and interests and all have a responsibility in and for the Arctic region. The Arctic makes up an essential part of the common cultural heritage, and is home to part of the Kingdom’s population. Photo: Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark in China
It is the Danish Youth Council that, in collaboration with Greenlandic and Faroese youth organisations, has launched the investigation on young people's knowledge and attitude towards each other across the Danish Commonwealth.
1014 Danish, 318 Greenlandic and 222 Faroese young people aged 18 to 28 participated in the study. The study consisted of a questionnaire survey and focus group interviews.
56 percent of Danish young people indicate that they have never or only once received education about the Commonwealth. It is different for Faroese youth, where 80 percent have had education about the Commonwealth. For the Greenlandic youth, the figure is 70 percent.
83 percent of Danish young people believe that it is important to have knowledge of the commonwealth and the three countries. In Greenland, the figure is 86 percent, while for Faroese youth it is 87 percent.
The majority of Danish young people believe that they have a more positive view of Greenland and the Faroe Islands compared to how the two countries are portrayed in the media. 48 percent have a positive impression of Greenland, while 54 percent have a positive impression of the Faroe Islands.
For the Faroese youth, 58 percent have a positive impression of Denmark, while seven percent have a negative impression. 16 percent have a positive impression of Greenland, while 47 percent have a negative impression.
If you ask the Greenlandic youth, 44 percent say that their general impression of Denmark is neither positive nor negative, while 20 percent have a negative impression of Denmark. Only a small proportion have a negative impression of the Faroe Islands, while 22 percent have a positive impression of the Faroe Islands.
71 percent of Danish youth do not feel a sense of community with Greenland, and 66 percent do not feel connected to the Faroe Islands.
It is different in the Faroe Islands, where 62 percent feel a community with Greenland and 56 percent experience a community with Denmark.
In Greenland, 21 percent feel a sense of community with the Faroe Islands, while 47 percent feel a sense of community with young people in Denmark.
In Denmark, 71 percent of young people believe that the commonwealth must be preserved. In the Faroe Islands, the figure is 63 per cent, while 64 per cent of Greenlandic young people want to preserve the commonwealth.
Although the Danish young people lag behind when it comes to knowledge about the North Atlantic countries, the knowledge of the Greenlandic young people about the Faroe Islands is also lacking.
32 percent of the 300 Greenlandic young people who take part in the survey say that they have no knowledge of the Faroe Islands.
According to the Danish Youth Council, which is an umbrella and interest organization for children's and youth organisations, it is the first time that young people in the three countries have been asked about their knowledge of each other in one survey.
The survey shows that several of the young people have negative ideas about the other countries. In Denmark and the Faroe Islands, the image of Greenland is associated with unhappiness, incest and alcohol.
Several of the young people in Denmark believe that the Faroese are more conservative than themselves. And in Greenland and the Faroe Islands, the perception of Danish youth is that they are loud, condescending and ignorant.
Therefore, it is important that there is more knowledge about each other in the three countries, believes Christine Ravn Lund.
We will use the survey to work from and raise this perspective, with the fact that you simply cannot take for granted that new generations automatically lean into the Commonwealth.
So if you want the (Danish) Commonwealth of Nations, you will also have to prioritize it in teaching and meetings across the board, she says.
Support for the Commonwealth
But despite the negative perceptions, there is a desire among young people in all three countries to strengthen the community.
In Greenland and the Faroe Islands, around 60 percent of the young people surveyed believe that the commonwealth must be preserved. In Denmark, the figure is just over 70 percent.
At the same time, many of the young people believe that the Commonwealth needs to be dusted off.
If there is to be mutual cooperation, it is also about having a cultural knowledge and understanding of how young people live in Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
At the same time, I think it is positive that there are many young people across the Commonwealth of Nations who want to strengthen cooperation, says Christine Ravn Lund.
Source: Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa
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