Open AccessThe Challenge of Nissology:A Global Outlook on the World Archipelago Part II: The Global and Scientific Vocation of Nissology
Author(s) -
Christian Depraetere
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
island studies journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.2
H-Index - 21
ISSN - 1715-2593
DOI - 10.24043/isj.213
Subject(s) - archipelago , phenomenon , globalization , environmental ethics , geography , appeal , history , sociology , epistemology , political science , philosophy , law , archaeology
Islands are the rule and not the exception. One major objective for nissology- defined as the study of islands and islandness - in the 21st century should be to debunk the unfair prejudice that island studies’continues to suffer at present time. To do so, a systematic treatment of the island phenomenon needs to be undertaken and this should be backed up by substantial theoretical underpinnings. In seeking to turn the dominant continental paradigm on its head, islands not only deserve to be“studied on their own terms”; they also become the deus ex machina of a holistic understanding of the world archipelago and its ongoing globalization. This vision should contribute towards bridging the gap between'continentalists’who tend to consider islands only as epiphenomena of larger land trends. and 'island studies’practitioners. This paper,the second of two segments, focuses mainly on the contribution of islands to global cultural and biological diversity. and concludes with an appeal for a more rigorous, pan-epistemic treatment of island studies.