Let Geoff’s friendship with the natural world take you through the seasons, as we head into 2025.

We hope you will join us in reflecting on what a beautiful world we have inherited and in imagining a future that respects it.

See you in the new year…

If you missed this past Tuesday’s knitting and storytelling event, watch along to see the beautiful knitting patterns that were being brought to life at the fourth Yarns and Yarns: a hybrid event which we co-hosted with the Institute of Northern Studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands (Shetland, Scotland). Initiated by the Arctic Island Studies Research (NAISR) Thematic Network of the University of the Arctic, Yarns and Yarns has happened before in St. John’s, NL, Uist in Scotland, and in Iceland. There were so many things we learned about island life from the stories that Cheryl Wartman and Kim Doherty Smith shared from Prince Edward Island. And, as Lynda Harling Stalker, who joined us from Antigonish (Nova Scotia), reminded us online, knitting has so much to do with agency, especially when we think about women knitting on islands.

Fishing mittens aside, join us this coming Tuesday at 7 pm on the UPEI campus for our last lecture of 2024. Recent Master of Arts in Island Studies graduate and lobster fisher Marlene Chapman’s talk is titled “How adaptive is the PEI lobster fishery? An exploration of climate change and the social structures influencing the local fishery.” More details here: Island Lecture Series.

As the Institute moves closer to 2025 and its 40th year, David reminds us of how culture is hardly insignificant when we puzzle over why our Islands are sometimes stuck in a rut, and how much confidence we need to have in ourselves to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

It’s such an easy thing to forget and such an important thing to remember: that the antidotes to the problems we perceive lie in understanding and acknowledging what is, and why it is so.

In talking about the 1982 book “The Garden Transformed,” David encourages us to think about whether our attachments make us present Prince Edward Island in a way that is actually helpful to the Island or not. And, as he walks us through some of the outcomes of 1992’s An Island Living conference, David reminds us of how Island Studies has always been about questioning the traditional thinking about Islands.

Stay tuned for more from this conversation next weekend!

There is something here about all that we treasure in the places that feel like home. And about shared understandings that are often unspoken on an Island.

Thinking about all the connections we have yet to make, as Sigfus reminds us that there are torches we need to carry. We are just two months shy of turning 40 after all, so the future is upon us!

Sifgus and Laurie met this October in a place where Sigfus worked about 50 years ago. And he did go looking to see what’s changed over the half-century, so you’ll learn a fair bit about Iceland when you listen to this conversation too. But maybe it’s fairer to say that you’ll learn in a way that’s only possible when someone puts comparative Island Studies in perspective of history.

There is so much in this conversation that some of us have never thought about. So we’ve split it into a two-part podcast, to give us some time to absorb what is said in this part. Stay tuned next week for more from Sigfus and Laurie about…well, let’s just say the conversation takes a turn towards that ever-ephemeral yet so real experience of Islandness.

Listen to these two thoughtful Islanders talk about how important freedom can be to an Island, in the context of who has jurisdiction over what, and how people from (small) islands have a unique outlook that makes one both open-minded and gritty. There are worlds that only Islanders have insight into, and a way of thinking that comes about when you can sense that you fit into something that very few people understand, in one way or another.

“An Island Living” was held in 1992. It is the first international conference that the Institute of Island Studies ever pulled together on Prince Edward Island. We have hosted and collaborated on many international gatherings since, under many different umbrellas. The video we are sharing is quaint and a testament to the technology of the times, yet it still shows you how important it is for people from island jurisdictions across the world to gather together, exchange ideas, realize that there are other Islanders on other Islands who care about the same things, and to work together to think about their distinct status in a mainland-oriented world.

If you were at “An Island Living,” we hope that you enjoy this blast from the past and give yourself some credit for everything that you have done for the discipline of island studies over the years. If you weren’t there, then we’d love for you to think about how inspired everyone is about sharing their knowledge in this video and then to consider how we can make next June’s Turning the Tide 2025 conference as meaningful for Prince Edward Island and Islands across the world as this first international gathering that we hosted was. Our Turning the Tide 2025 conference is subtitled “Island Imaginaries and Interdisciplinaries in Climate Change” and has a focus on the lived experience of islandness. We are accepting abstracts till end-October 2024. You can find more information about participating here.

There are things to think about in Jim’s (always precise) rendering of where the Institute of Island Studies and Island Studies Press stand in the academic food chain. Before he takes off on a journey this year, to bring Island Studies education to islands across the world in his own quirky way, he reminds us of how important it is to do what we are capable of, given how prone the Institute is to being questioned about its existence. Something we continue to think about as we get into revisiting our Strategic Plan...look out for more about that over the next few months.

When you listen to this conversation, take a moment to think about your own relationship with Prince Edward Island. Dwell on your experiences, both good and bad, in the context of what you hear. If you’re feeling up to it, maybe orient yourself this weekend to have a difficult conversation with someone you know, even sometime in the near future. Prince Edward Island is a place where things might work in peculiar ways but where one can usually find ways to understand why as well. We will stop that thought right there, because this isn’t an Island Studies class.

Speaking of classes though, we’ve had a new cohort of students start their Master of Arts in Island Studies this September. Here is a peek into the connections that Island Studies is always exploring and the feeling of family that we hope everyone connected with us experiences in one way or another.

It’s not our style to pick favourites but there’s a reason we’re bringing this conversation to you at the start of a long weekend that marks a turn from summer to more serious fall. There’s lots to chew on in it. If you’re not quite sure what Island Studies is, you will find yourself at least one or two succinct and reasonable explanations. If you’re not the kind who finds it easy to think about time and change without something to guide you, this is a good pit stop too. And, if you want to learn about what the connection between Prince Edward Island and the Institute is, you are in the right place.

The Institute of Island Studies likes this podcast because there’s so much truth and goodness just peeking out of the conversation, even in all the exciting bits. And because it affirms that now is a good time for us to look to our roots as we move into a new season.

p.s. staving off the spoilers for this podcast was an effort.

And send us a note at iis@upei.ca if this listen inspires a thought and you’d like to do something about it with the Institute!