some distance to go.."": A Critical Survey of Island Studies"

The debut issue of Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures , launched in 2007, points to the need for more rigorous and sustained scrutiny of the foundational assumptions " of the organised study of islands. The editorial states: "Over the past two decades islands have been subject to an increasing amount of research and to a lesser extend theorisation"" This article seeks to address this imbalance by attempting a critical survey of island studies scholarship; in particular it focuses on ideas about literature which hold sway in the field and undermine claims to genuine and generous interdisciplinarity."