Master's Thesis Presentation
About the project:
Islands are not always geographical. Some regions of the world can be called "practical islands" on a seasonal basis, if one is to draw the definition of islands from their degree of connectivity, in particular connectivity in transportation. Three insular case studies from the Westfjords (Ingjaldssandur, Djúpavík and Vigur) have been compared to one case study from the Åland Islands (Husö) in an attempt to answer the questions "Why do people choose to move to/stay in geographical and practical islands?", and "What is needed to sustain habitation in geographical and practical islands?"
The academic exercise consists of trying to tie the interdisciplinary threads of the Coastal and Marine Management Master's Programme together, with a focus on social sciences, in order to produce policy recommendations from a bottom-up perspective, where the individual matters. For this purpose, interviews have been conducted both with inhabitants of insular regions and decision-makers on different levels concerned with connectivity. It is concluded that the high costs of sustaining habitation and connectivity must be weighed against the importance of cultural heritage, human-nature interactions, people's relationship to the sea, economic diversification and individual rights. It is suggested that practical islands should be treated as such on a seasonal basis and that the historical waterways should not be underestimated.
Advisor: Helga Ögmundardóttir, PhD-candidate at the Universtity of Uppsala, Sweden, and instructor at the CMM program at the University Centre of the Westfjords.
