Islandness as Narratives of Relation

Abstract

This article uses literature on islands and islandness, coloniality, creole identity, indigenous ontology and settler studies to abstract a typology of islandness. The article frames islandness as a product of narratives of relations within and with islands that produce Autochthonous, Settler and Creole islandnesses. The article engages with islands as sites of relational spatialities, following Vannini and Taggart (2013). Those relational spatialities are understood to be produced by, and reproduced through, intergenerational narratives. Using Australia as an illustrative reference, the article identifies themes related to each type of islandness, not as universals but as examples of a type. The article concludes by proposing that the typology can be engaged in validating the variety of islandness narratives that emerge from the process of collective identification within island spaces.