The Challenges of Island Studies

Book excerpt: This book places islanders’ struggles and knowledge at the forefront of island studies. Written by experts from diverse fields and locations, it covers a wide range of topics, from the history of island studies to critical ocean studies. In remapping the field of island studies from Okinawa, an emerging hub of community-based knowledge and interdisciplinary collaboration between leading critics and theorists in geography, linguistics, tourism, literature, international relations, and peace studies reveals the challenges for the future of island studies. The book consists of two parts: the first offers a collection of individual contributions that demonstrate the vital role that the field’s interdisciplinarity can play in creating bridges between the political and social issues islanders and the islands face and the disciplines involved. The second part provides a cross-disciplinary discussion between the authors and scholars of island studies in Okinawa, including local experts, and suggests new ways to think about the future of island studies that are intricately linked to islanders’ agency, preservation of languages and heritage, and the security of the islands. As such, the book directly addresses the current state of the field as well as with its future.