Hearing voices: colonialism, outsider perspectives, island and Indigenous issues, and publishing ethics

This editorial introduction delves into problematic aspects of positionality and publishing ethics related to island and Indigenous issues. Taking its point of departure in Gilley’s paper on ‘The case for colonialism’ and Pöllath’s paper ‘Revisiting island decolonization’, the present paper questions: Whose voices should we listen to when considering island and Indigenous issues? If some voices should be excluded from the debate, how should we determine which voices are excluded? Ultimately, the paper criticizes exclusionary approaches and argues that Island Studies Journal should be open to publishing articles from metropolitan and outsider perspectives as well as from islander and Indigenous perspectives―but that it is necessary for authors and readers to be aware of their own positions within the colonial matrix of power.