Shima

International Conference: Islands And Island Studies 2025

Visions, strategies and local projects

Venue: JICAS, Jersey — Dates: June 3^rd–7^th 2025.
Organised by the Jersey International Centre of Advanced Studies (JICAS) in collaboration with Shima and the Small Island Cultures Research Initiative (SICRI).

The interdisciplinary field of Island Studies began in the early 1990s with the establishment of ISISA (the International Small Islands Studies Association). The field was subsequently enhanced through the formation of SICRI (the Small Island Cultures Research Initiative) in 2005, and with the establishment of a number of academic periodicals, including Island Studies Journal (in 2006), Shima (2007), The Journal of Marine and Island Cultures (2012) and the Okinawan Journal of Island Studies (2020). Organisations such as Island Innovation (founded in 2018) have also pursued collaborative research, development and dialogue between and for islanders.

The Islands and Island Studies 2025 conference will provide an opportunity for researchers, administrators, policy makers and islanders to explore key questions concerning island societies and jurisdictions in the early 21^st Century and to review research in the field to date.

The conference will comprise 3 plenary sessions and two parallel panel strands:

• Plenary #1 — Lessons from and challenges for Jersey — featuring contributions from Jersey government officers and representatives of local organisations.
• Plenary #2 — Two decades of Island Studies as represented in its journals — featuring presentations from journal editors Philip Hayward (Shima), Sun-Kee Hong (The Journal of Marine and Island Cultures), Ping Su (Island Studies Journal) Ayano Ginoza (former editor of the Okinawan Journal of Island Studies) + response by Jonathan Pugh (Professor of island Studies, Newcastle University, UK) (tbc).
• Plenary #3 — New Voices in Island Studies (programmed by SICRI) — featuring presentations from six emerging island Studies scholars.

Proposals for panels and/or individual papers for the parallel strands are welcome on the following topics:

• Issues in Island Studies
• Research collaborations with island communities
• Island cultures in periods of transition
• Island societies, climate change and the Anthropocene

The conference will commence with an early evening reception on June 3^rd, there will be three full days of panels and papers on June 4^th–6^th and a study trip (tba) on June 7^th.

Proposals for papers should be 250–300 words long and should be submitted to islandsandis@gmail.com by November 1st 2024 and notifications of acceptance will be issued by December 10th 2024. Any inquiries as to the suitability of proposed topics and/or proposals for panels can be sent to Philip Hayward (on behalf of the conference organising committee) at prhshima@gmail.com by October 1st 2024.

Conference Registration Fee (includes conference receptions, lunches and refreshments): UK 175 pounds. (Postgraduate/unwaged rate UK 99 pounds.)
Information about accommodation deals for delegates will be posted on conference website in November.

Call for Papers for conference on: Islands and Audiovisual Media

Islands and Audiovisual Media
University of the Faroe Islands, Tórshavn, June 26–28 2024
Held in collaboration with SICRI (the Small Island Cultures Research Initiative) and Shima journal

Focus:

Islands have been extensively represented in cinema, television and various forms of video. Local community film and video productions and documentaries by outside producers have often looked at the minutiae of island life and the nuances of living on islands. There is also the expedition genre, representing journeys to islands (with the outsider’s impressions as the key topic). YouTube has many examples of personal travel videos. Many fictional and documentary productions have utilised familiar tropes of island paradises and their opposite, island ‘hells’ — places of confinement, menace and despair. Island paradises have been the subject of comedy and romance whereas hellish islands have been featured in genres such as horror, action and SciFi. Reality television has also drawn on these paradigms and a number of music videos have also represented islands in various ways.

Proposals:

Proposals from researchers from any Humanities field are invited that address one or more of the following topics:

• The representation of actual islands in one or multiple audiovisual texts
• The representation of fictional islands in one or multiple audiovisual texts
• The representation of islands in particular genres and/or national cinemas
• The relationship of island-themed audiovisual productions to broader social political factors and histories
• Gender issues in island themed audiovisual productions
• Colonial and postcolonial discourses in island-themed audiovisual productions
• Island community media productions and/or organisations
• Ethnographic approaches to island themed audiovisual productions
• Reconstructions of historical island life in audiovisual productions
• Issues of film/video style with regard to representations of islands

Proposals (300–400 words long) should be sent to Dr Firouz Gaini (FirouzG@setur.fo) and Dr Philip Hayward (phayward21c@gmail.com)

An early acceptance program is in place, for those wishing to apply for travel funding from their institutions. All proposals received by August 20^th 2023 will be considered and replied to by September 21^st  2023.  Final deadline for submissions of proposals will be January 30^th 2024.

NB cheaper accommodation in Torshavn tends to book out early, so the earliest possible submission of proposals is advised.

There will be a special issue of Shima on the topic of Islands and Audiovisual media published in late 2024. Conference delegates are invited to submit extended versions of their accepted papers for consideration for publication by August 1^st (absolute latest) and may submit these prior to the conference for online publication in advance of the special issue (at the editor’s discretion) — contact Dr Philip Hayward at phayward21c@gmail.com for further information.

Inland Waterscapes, Udine 22–25 May 2024

International Conference on Inland Waterscapes: Nature, Society and Culture in Hydrography

The International Conference on Inland Waterscapes (Udine, Italy 22–25 May 2024) is collaboratively organized by The University of Udine (Italy), Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), the River Cities Network (Netherlands) and Shima (Australia).

Our aim is to internationalise the emergent field of Waterways Studies and to give researchers from different regions the opportunity to understand the nature of waterways as cultural water-/landscapes in differing locations across the world.

For information and registration, visit the conference website: https://inlandwaterscapes.uniud.it/

Supported by:

• University of Udine
• Regione Autonoma Friuli Venezia Giulia
• River Cities Network — International Institute for Asian Studies

In cooperation with:

• Global Network of Water Museums (WAMU-NET)