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

Abstract

For the past thirty years, the interdisciplinary field of Island Studies has been growing in the form of academic programs, research institutions or centres, communities of scholars and practitioners, and advocacy-based organizations at local, national and international scales. Although the term Island Studies has now become part of our lexicon, there has been less reflection on the institutional framework surrounding its emergence and evolution. This chapter describes and evaluates the institutional administrative structures associated with Island Studies to take stock of how and where this field of enquiry might be headed in the future. The main findings are that, despite considerable interest in Island Studies, it is still largely absent from most of our educational institutions. As was the case with Environmental Studies and Gender Studies, it may take an existential crisis for Island Studies to become a more established field. This crisis may be a combination of growing geopolitical tensions in ocean spaces, continued adverse impacts from climate change and sea level rise, and development challenges.