Navigating Learning, Culture, and Identity in Island Education

Navigating Learning, Culture, and Identity in Island Education invites readers into the lived educational experiences of island communities, where geography, tradition, and the rhythms of the natural world converge to characterize distinctive pedagogical practices. In these contexts, educational processes are characterized by situated relationships—with the land and sea, with cultural memory and identity, and with the often-close-knit social fabric of island communities. While challenged by limited infrastructure and scarce resources, island communities cultivate pedagogies of resilience: adaptive, situated, and deeply relational. These educational approaches emerge not in spite of “isolation” but through it—formed by proximity, interdependence, and a sustained attentiveness to place. Navigating Learning, Culture, and Identity in Island Education explores selected educational landscapes across a range of island communities worldwide. From the Greek Aegean to the Ryukyus, from Ponza and Sicily to the Maldives, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and the Canadian Maritimes, this volume highlights how spatial distinctiveness, cultural hybridity, and ecological vulnerability shape the ways in which people learn, teach, and lead in island contexts. Educational practices arise in response to local histories, environmental precarity, linguistic and cultural diversity, and the legacies of colonization. Themes explored include school-community collaboration, sustainability education, inclusive and intercultural pedagogy, literary imaginaries of the sea, leadership development, and the complex transitions faced by students in island-based higher education. Spanning formal, non-formal, and community-based learning across various small island states and territories, the chapters establish a productive dialogue between educational research and island studies. This volume offers both theoretical insights and practical approaches for educators, scholars, and policymakers seeking educational paradigms that are both locally grounded and globally resonant. At once rooted and far-reaching, Navigating Learning, Culture, and Identity in Island Education invites readers to rethink what education means in places defined not only by their geography, but by their imaginative, cultural, and ecological distinctiveness.