Reiterating the boundary: Community discourse in light of proposed technological change on Vinalhaven Island, Maine, USA

Abstract

This qualitative work is a case study of Vinalhaven, a small Maine island, and its negotiation of the intersection of technology use, space, place, and identity. Using a phenomenologically informed theoretical approach coupled with a version of Foucault’s archaeology of discourse (1972, 1994) as a method of analysis, the role of place and space is explored in the context of a bounded community’s public discussion about whether or not to build a cell phone tower on the island. In opposition to the oft-cited narrative of technology-as-connective-panacea, the discourse of the community surrounding the potential technology serves to complicate the community’s expression of its boundaries. If anything, the potential introduction of a new form of connectivity for the island community prompts a reaffirmation and re-articulation of the community’s boundaries, its sense of self, and its experience of isolation. The case study offers insight into approaches to the introduction of connective technologies and infrastructures in island communities, thus extending both place-based theories of technology and the depth of island studies.