Islands as Places of Being and Belonging^*

* I would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers and the editors of this special issue for their helpful comments and Jean Besson for providing information on distances in Jamaica.

Abstract

Islands, traditionally important units of research and analysis in ethnographic research, have come to be viewed as a problematic unit of analysis, as anthropologists have realized the close integration of island societies within the wider world. This article argues that islands are still useful and fruitful foci of research, if their particular character is explored from an islandic point of view. Through life‐story interviews conducted in three large, dispersed families of Caribbean origin, the article demonstrates that islands may be usefully conceptualized as sociocultural constructs that constitute important anchoring points as well as sources of identification for migrants and their descendants.

• Caribbean
• cultural identity
• cultural site
• ethnic categories
• family
• field site
• migration
• transnational communities

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Karen Fog Olwig

Dr. Olwig is a professor of anthropology at the University of Copenhagen, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.