The new Netflix film Against the Ice is based on the adventures of Enjar Mikkelsen (1880–1971), a Danish polar explorer, captain and colonizer in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland)—homing in on his 1909 Alabama Expedition in particular. The cinematic appeal of Mikkelsen is bolstered by his methodical recordings vis-à-vis books and maps, which have figured significantly in the collective memory of Nordic colonialism.
In response to the film’s production, Gudrun Havsteen-Mikkelsen (born 1992), the explorer’s great-granddaughter, edited this book in collaboration with designer Anna Bierler. Combining archival material, interviews and essays, Snowblindness: Let’s Talk about Storytelling, Colonialism, Netflix and My Great Grandfather offers new grounds for engagement with the polar explorer’s legacy, questioning the ethics and aesthetics of conventional colonial narratives through scholarly research and vulnerable storytelling.
