Decolonial thinking: A critical perspective on positionality and representations in island studies

Abstract

Scholars conducting research on and about islands face the challenge of countering the epistemic and methodological dominance of external perspectives on islands with an insular internal view, while also avoiding essentializing the island or reproducing Western perspectives. Islands have always been—and in some cases still are—confronted with a colonial gaze. Thus, to avoid producing hegemonic epistemology, we call for critical reflection on how islands are represented in our research, which theoretical concepts are referred to, and what knowledge is produced by applying them. Furthermore, we appeal for a reconsideration of the researcher’s positionality within the field and their role in knowledge production. This special section is a contribution to the decolonial project within island studies.