Crimea - almost an Island?

Abstract

Drawing on recent debates about expanded concepts of islands and of Island Studies, this article suggests that Crimea can be regarded as "almost an island" in sociocultural, political and infra-structural terms. The article discusses Crimean historical moments and events, socio-cultural encounters and autonomies as important dimensions in the establishment of an "islandness" that extends beyond the geographical into the imaginative space. Crimean "almost-islandness" is argued to be created by a combination of the diverse marine spaces that border substantial parts of its terrain, the history of tensions and conflicts between its ethnic groups and the current historical transition from one social and political practice to another (ie the transition associated with its annexation by Russia in 2014).