Island studies as a decolonial project

Abstract

The phenomenon of colonialism influenced the cultures, economies, and politics of the majority of the world’s population. The subsequent decolonization process has likewise had profound affects on colonized societies. Island societies undergoing decolonization face many of the same pressures and challenges as do mainland societies, yet island spatiality and the history of island colonization itself has left former and present-day island colonies with distinctive colonial legacies. From the Caribbean to the Arctic to the Pacific to the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean, colonial and decolonial processes are creating tensions between maintenance of the culture of indigenous peoples, economic development, cultivation of cultural heritage, political modernization, status on the global stage, democratic governance, and educational achievement. We call for an island studies perspective on decolonization, emphasizing the importance of appropriately positioning expert knowledge relative to the needs of colonized and indigenous peoples and highlighting the pitfalls of neocolonialsim. We thus lay the groundwork for island studies as a decolonial project.

Keywords

• colonialism
• decolonial project
• decolonization
• indigenous peoples
• island studies
• neocolonialism