In this double issue we follow the invisible paths in the water currents that connect one island to another around the world.
To rethink islandness means defining these regions not as isolated lands with “empty” water-spaces between them, but as one vast interlinked space punctuated by occasional landmasses. Island-thinking turns perceptions upside down to openness.

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“From a continental European perspective, islands have long been considered as separated and isolated spaces, disconnected from one another and from the rest of their environment. Colonial histories, as well as cultural and scientific movements, have further created boundaries between islands, people and things. This double special issue of the ICOFOM Study Series aims to rethink such a perspective on islands by bringing together papers from around the world that draw on alternative views, notably from the Pacific and Caribbean regions concerning oceanic islands (i.e. those formed of coral or undersea volcanic eruptions [Deleuze, 2002]).”

(Excerpt from introduction by Marion Bertin and Karen Brown)

Read and download here: ISS 53 1-2 2025

This edition of our peer review journal was guest edited by: Marion Bertin, Jamie Allan Brown, Karen Brown, Ana Sol González Rueda, Louis Lagarde, Marianne Tissandier, with an introduction by Marion Bertin and Karen Brown.

ICOFOM Study Series is possible thanks to our editorial team:
Managing Editor, ICOFOM: M. Elizabeth Weiser
Communication Manager, ICOFOM: Anna Leshchenko
Editorial Coordinator: Allison Daniel
Copy Editors: Allison Daniel (English); Marion Bertin (French); Ana Sol González Rueda (Spanish)
Designer: Melissa Aguilar

Published by ICOFOM, Paris, in 2025