This is a past event
Taking Shetland out of the Box: Island Cultures and Shetland Identity is the first of the biennial Taking Islands of the Box conference series, which seeks to facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue among academics and practitioners working with island issues.
Download the programme.
By bringing together folklorists and brand developers, anthropologists and politicians, historians and economists, Taking Shetland out of the Box marks a major event in the emerging field of Island Studies and promises a broader dialogue on the opportunities and challenges facing island communities. With 57 speakers representing 22 sovereign states and self-governing regions, the conference presents a highly-international outlook as well, which is fitting for an event with the theme of the role islands play as meeting places for cultures.
The conference is a collaboration of the University of Aberdeen‘s Elphinstone Institute, the UHI Millennium Institute‘s Centre for Nordic Studies, and the Shetland Museum & Archives. Funding for the keynote speakers was provided by the Nordic Culture Fund, and the European Commission Office in Scotland sponsored a dinner and reception at the Shetland Museum and Archives. The Royal Historical Society and Shetland Fudge Company both contributed to student grants and bursaries.
Taking Shetland out of the Box is having a direct impact on Island Studies literature. In association with the conference, a Shetland publishing cooperative, North Idea (northideashetland.weebly.com), has published Identity: Essays, a pamphlet exploring island identity. Furthermore, October 2010 will see the publication of a special issue of Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Cultures (www.shimajournal.org) devoted to articles adapted from presentations at the conference.Two years from now, Taking Islands out of the Box will move on to Malta, which will host Taking Malta out of the Box: Island Cultures, Economies, and Identities on 4-8 May 2011. This event will be a collaboration of the Elphinstone Institute, the University of Malta's Islands & Small States Institute, and Eastern Mediterranean University‘s Center for Cyprus Studies.