Presentations of the 16 themed sessions > Session A

Session A

Island time. Island Territories from Different Temporal Perspectives

Facilitators: Eva LELIÈVRE (Ined), Celio SIERRA-PAYCHA (Cridup) & Loïc TRABUT (Ined)

This session is calling for contributions that deal with “island time”, and which oppose representations of the island as a “place[...] outside time” (Bonnemaison, 1990: 119); more precisely, we are looking for empirical work that addresses the position of island territories from different temporal perspectives in terms of globalised exchanges between islands and continents. The time scales involved can be varied.

One temporal scale is the long term, over which inhabitants of low-lying islands have come to be threatened by rising sea levels and increased cyclone risks (Barnett & Campbell, 2010). Proposals may also consider the island through the prism of socio-demographic trends (Rallu, 2010; Péron, 1988): due to their small size and high levels of economic specialisation, the populations of island territories may experience sudden demographic shifts such as the island of Ha-Shima which suddenly became a ghost island following the cessation of coal mining.

Taking into account the position of islands from the perspective of the biographical time of their inhabitants enables the focus to be both on residential trajectories and migratory routes in a context of heliotropism and nissotropism (Bernardie-Tahir, 2005): retirement migrations such as return of islanders after a period of professional life on the continent. Island locations may also be studied in relation to the problems of unequal territorial provision of public services, forcing islanders to move to get training, health care and work. Finally, the links between the island and the other territories might be considered on a seasonal (movement linked to seasonal activities, tourism) or daily (island-continent commuting) time scale.

Indicative bibliographical references

Barnett J., Campbell J., 2010, Climate Change and Small Island States: Power, Knowledge and the South Pacific, Londres, Earthscan.
Bernardie-Tahir N., 2005, « Des “bouts du monde” à quelques heures : l’illusion de l’isolement dans les petites îles touristiques », Annales de géographie, n° 644, p. 362-382.
Bonnemaison J., 1990, « Vivre dans l’île. Une approche de l’iléité océanienne », L’Espace géographique, n° 2, p. 119-125.
Le Lay Y.-F., Comby E., 2012, « Habiter les îles fluviales. Géographie d’un eau-delà », Géographie et cultures, n° 84, p. 121-140.
Péron F., 1988, « Qu’est-ce qu’une population insulaire aujourd’hui ? Le cas d’Ouessant », Bulletin de l’Association des géographes français, 65(3), p. 241-255.
Rallu J.-L., 2010, « La démographie de l’Océanie des années 1950 aux années 2000. Synthèse des changements et bilan statistique », Population, 65(1), p. 9-115.