Kirstine Møller is a visiting researcher at HEI in the period March – May 2024. She is a Ph.D. candidate at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Ilisimatusarfik, University of Greenland. She herself is from Sisimiut and writes about colonial cultural meetings in Greenland from 1731 to 1900.
Kirstine's research focuses on Inuit’s daily life and how it changed during the colonial period in the ongoing meeting with Danish colonies and the Moravian Church. She is a historical archaeologist, but with a bachelor's degree in prehistoric archeology from the University of Copenhagen, and a master's degree in sustainable heritage management from the University of Aarhus and an Erasmus stay in England, she has a broad background in archeology and cultural heritage.
What are you working on right now?
- Right now I am trying to find the answer to why so few European or Nordic archaeologists are working with the colonial period in Greenland. After all, it is a period in which there should be great interest in both Norway and Denmark, because they were “twin-kingdoms” during the colonial period. So I am currently working with the term "colonial amnesia". I think that is one of the reasons why so few work with the period, and perhaps it is because as nations you are not too fond of thinking of yourself as colonizing. So one of the ways that you can perhaps avoid that feeling of guilt, even if it shouldn't be there, is that you just forget that it happened.
It is important to point out that the research she is doing is not about anyone feeling guilty or responsible. However, it is more about the story of what binds us together and how to work towards more understanding and collaboration.
As a recent mover to Oslo, Kirstine was positive about the opportunity to stay at IAKH as a guest researcher. She will be here while she finishes writing her Ph.D. and is looking forward to getting to know both the institute and the capital better.
- I am so lucky to have been offered to sit here in an archaeological environment and work - I have missed that very much [...] It is quite interesting to be in a place with a focus on prehistoric archaeology, because I have worked mostly with historical archeology in recent years. So it feels a bit like "getting back to the roots". But it's also exciting here, because Oslo has both the university, but also the Museum of Cultural History with an Arctic collection from Greenland, which I would like to get to know better.
Although she does not know Norwegian archeology very well yet, she enjoys staying at the institute
- I feel very welcome. Getting an introduction to all of you here, the research that is taking place, and being allowed to find out how I myself can become part of the environment - even if my profile is quite different.
However, a "different" profile is welcome with HEI, which wants to strengthen heritage studies and engage in discourses on a wide range of topics related to cultural heritage, through, among other things, collaborating with the heritage sector and new teaching models. Kirstine says that although she loves research, she thinks that dissemination is actually most important:
-being able to talk about research and teach is something I find very important. For me, research is most important when you share it.
With that, we finally moved on to talking about the students at the institute. When asked if she has any advice for aspiring researchers or students who may be on the verge of choosing a topic for their bachelor's or master's, she says:
- My tip is to be curious! And to be curious about theories from different disciplines. Finding out what you agree with and why and trying to build your own theoretical base. When it comes to understanding the past, there are as many different people in the past as there are different people today and I believe that we gain a lot in terms of research when we look at the past through different lenses.
On any final tips she may have for students who are on the threshold of their carees, she is clear:
- Don't give up! No, but I felt when I was a student that I was in a hurry. As if you didn't have enough time - but you do have enough time. The more experience we get from different parts of life, the more interesting our research becomes, I think. I don't think I could have done the research I'm doing now if I had done it when I was in my 20s, so I think you really just have to take the time to find out how you yourself see the world.