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Governing Reproduction: How Danish Welfare Authorities Justified Reproductive Intervention in Kalaallit Nunaat

Ólafsdóttir, Gabriela Lif LU (2026) SOLM02 20261
Sociology of Law Department
Abstract
This thesis examines how Danish health and welfare authorities framed women in
Greenland's (Kalaallit women’s) reproduction as a social problem requiring intervention
between 1950 and 1975. Through a socio-legal analysis of 104 pages of archival documents
from the Danish National Archives, the study traces the administrative logics that constructed
Kalaallit fertility as a governable risk, thereby legitimising the coercive nature of the IUD
programme. Mbembe’s necropolitics provides the overarching logic of the analysis, where
the sovereign power to define expendable life is exposed. Banakar's RMS (risk management
strategies) and Neocleous's preventive governance identify the administrative mechanisms
that translated that... (More)
This thesis examines how Danish health and welfare authorities framed women in
Greenland's (Kalaallit women’s) reproduction as a social problem requiring intervention
between 1950 and 1975. Through a socio-legal analysis of 104 pages of archival documents
from the Danish National Archives, the study traces the administrative logics that constructed
Kalaallit fertility as a governable risk, thereby legitimising the coercive nature of the IUD
programme. Mbembe’s necropolitics provides the overarching logic of the analysis, where
the sovereign power to define expendable life is exposed. Banakar's RMS (risk management
strategies) and Neocleous's preventive governance identify the administrative mechanisms
that translated that necropolitical intent into concrete interventions. Together, they show how
the IUD programme was not exceptional state violence but a routine administrative response
embedded in the ordinary structures of welfare governance. Furthermore, a necropolitical
analysis is deployed to show how Danish authorities differentially valued life, treating
Kalaallit reproduction as disposable in the pursuit of colonial modernisation.
The thesis argues that the IUD programme was not a hidden coercive event within an
otherwise benevolent welfare system. It was an expression of that system’s administrative
logic extended into a colonial context where the usual guarantees of rights did not apply and
Kalaallit women's reproduction became a site of intervention and where sovereign power
over life and death operated through bureaucratic routines. By treating reproduction as a
technical problem rather than a matter of bodily autonomy, Danish authorities depoliticised
coercion, rendering it as rational and necessary. The study contributes to Sociology of Law by
demonstrating how welfare governance, which is commonly associated with progress in
Denmark, can function as an instrument of racialised colonial control. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ólafsdóttir, Gabriela Lif LU
supervisor
organization
course
SOLM02 20261
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Greenland, Kalaallit Nunaat, necropolitics, reproduction, IUD-programme, spiral-case, archival research, welfare colonialism, governance, spiralsagen, forced contraception
language
English
id
9233326
date added to LUP
2026-06-24 14:46:38
date last changed
2026-06-24 14:46:38
@misc{9233326,
  abstract     = {{This thesis examines how Danish health and welfare authorities framed women in
Greenland's (Kalaallit women’s) reproduction as a social problem requiring intervention
between 1950 and 1975. Through a socio-legal analysis of 104 pages of archival documents
from the Danish National Archives, the study traces the administrative logics that constructed
Kalaallit fertility as a governable risk, thereby legitimising the coercive nature of the IUD
programme. Mbembe’s necropolitics provides the overarching logic of the analysis, where
the sovereign power to define expendable life is exposed. Banakar's RMS (risk management
strategies) and Neocleous's preventive governance identify the administrative mechanisms
that translated that necropolitical intent into concrete interventions. Together, they show how
the IUD programme was not exceptional state violence but a routine administrative response
embedded in the ordinary structures of welfare governance. Furthermore, a necropolitical
analysis is deployed to show how Danish authorities differentially valued life, treating
Kalaallit reproduction as disposable in the pursuit of colonial modernisation.
The thesis argues that the IUD programme was not a hidden coercive event within an
otherwise benevolent welfare system. It was an expression of that system’s administrative
logic extended into a colonial context where the usual guarantees of rights did not apply and
Kalaallit women's reproduction became a site of intervention and where sovereign power
over life and death operated through bureaucratic routines. By treating reproduction as a
technical problem rather than a matter of bodily autonomy, Danish authorities depoliticised
coercion, rendering it as rational and necessary. The study contributes to Sociology of Law by
demonstrating how welfare governance, which is commonly associated with progress in
Denmark, can function as an instrument of racialised colonial control.}},
  author       = {{Ólafsdóttir, Gabriela Lif}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Governing Reproduction: How Danish Welfare Authorities Justified Reproductive Intervention in Kalaallit Nunaat}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}