Navigating through Storms of Change (Roundtable at Conference of Irish Geographers)

Description

Island communities are increasingly experiencing the situated impacts of the
intensifying climate crisis. While they are often remote and may experience both
resilience and vulnerabilities as aspects of ‘islandness’, global challenges
simultaneously underline their varied entanglements which reach far beyond the
waters surrounding them. This roundtable presents interdisciplinary research on
some of the relationalities that shape island lives. The international contributors will
combine their experiences from working with different generations of islanders on
Rathlin Island (NI), Inishbofin Island (IE) and the Seagull islands (NO). Despite their
specific, situated challenges, these islands are connected through having to manage
their relationalities with the so-called ‘mainland’ and finding responses to the global
challenges impacting on their limited spaces. The contributions, varying in their
approaches to analysing island lives, are connected by their interest in the
interrelations that affect how people living on islands respond to crises. This will be
exemplified by how participating islanders describe their connections to other
generations and to the places in which and from which they live. For various reasons,
island life in our current times can lead to vulnerabilities and perceptions of
disconnection, but also connectedness, resilience and responsibility. Two
contributions more specifically explore creative educational approaches that are
inspired by or build on experiences of islandness and relationality. All reveal
adaptation and transformative learning opportunities in the face of the
climate crisis, with contributors offering a range of insights on how coastal
communities can inspire education, action and policy towards a sustainable,
climate-friendly future.

Period	8 May 2025
Event type	Other
Location	Belfast, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International