'Crack in the Ice': Marginalization of Young Men in Contemporary Urban Greenland

This chapter discusses young Greenlandic men at risk with a focus on their changing masculinities and quite ambivalent relations to the old hunting culture in the context of the town/city. The city symbolizes a crack in the ice, a split without complete separation of conventional and contemporary identities and constructions of 'Greenlandness'. Marginalization of young men in Greenland is part of the modernization and urbanization of society - and Inuit man's loss of work and identity in this process. Greenlandic marginalized masculinities reflect concussions in society, redefining the name of wanted and needed men. The social metamorphosis of Greenland has emancipated people from old ties and attached them to others. The chapter intends to analyse young men's (gender) identity negotiation, as well as their responses to societal challenges and ideologies, by examining the distinct contexts within which they are located.