Island Studies Inside (and Outside) of the Academy: The State of this Interdisciplinary Field

Does Living on an Island Make You Happier?

“…2 with key questions that are being addressed by scholars in the island studies field. In particular, as pointed out in a recent key textbook on island studies, such questions include (adopted from [10]):…”

“…-Are islands and islanders diverse, heterogeneous and unique, or do they share standard characteristics that may allow us to think of them as part of one or more relatively homogenous, coherent, groups? [10].…”

“…The work presented in this paper is part of a wider project and research effort aimed at extending the above 'geography of happiness research agenda' by engaging with the literature on the field of island studies [9,10]. In particular, our paper builds on the literature that explores the possible impact of the physical environment upon happiness and to that end, insularity and islandness is seen as physical geography feature.…”

Studying islandness through the language of art

“…And Baldacchino (2006, 9) asks if a "distinctive methodology" of Island Studies is even necessary, since the "inter-, or even trans-, disciplinary focus of critical inquiry and scholarship" is "the field's major strength" offering "enormous potential." But despite those challenges, in recent years increasing numbers of islanders have taken up the mantle of Island Studies-evidenced in the growth of academic programmes and institutes, government and non-government organisations, academic conferences and research programmes devoted to studying islands (see Brinklow, 2011;Randall, 2020;Robertson, 2018). It is becoming obvious that we are taking charge of our own stories, studying and defining islands on their own terms, through the lens of islandness.…”

“…Known as “the island effect” (Baldacchino, 2007, p. 2), “it is profoundly disempowering” to islanders (Hay, 2013, p. 213), “smear[ing] out lives and real islands into the bland non‐being of abstraction” (Hay, 2013, p. 212). Not entirely in agreement with those arguments, Fletcher (2011, p. 30) sums it up when she writes that there is still “some distance to go.” And Baldacchino (2006, 9) asks if a “distinctive methodology” of Island Studies is even necessary, since the “inter‐, or even trans‐, disciplinary focus of critical inquiry and scholarship” is “the field’s major strength” offering “enormous potential.” But despite those challenges, in recent years increasing numbers of islanders have taken up the mantle of Island Studies—evidenced in the growth of academic programmes and institutes, government and non‐government organisations, academic conferences and research programmes devoted to studying islands (see Brinklow, 2011; Randall, 2020; Robertson, 2018). It is becoming obvious that we are taking charge of our own stories, studying and defining islands on their own terms, through the lens of islandness.…”