Why Islands?

The island occupies an important place in the human psyche. At once a site of paradise, refuge and exile, the island not only intrigues us, it offers a unique perspective into world problems. While mainland societies are often only just beginning to grapple with issues of sustainability, for the island, sustainability has been a priority throughout its history. As microcosms of mainland society, islands are the heralds of change — the scapegoats and the bellwethers of our futures.

Viewed as living laboratories, islands face an at times formidable retinue of anthropologists, scientists and journalists. But while islands have been scoured from every possible angle, islanders are often portrayed as passive bystanders to global threats and relics from a simpler time. As much as they are written about, the voices of islanders themselves are rarely heard, their knowledge rarely consulted.

As storytelling in its most primitive form, audio narratives disarm prejudice by rendering the listener blind. Stripped of all physical attributes, stories become portals into the lives of others. They are honest. As a process and a product, audio storytelling has the power to bring people together in a non-threatening way, encouraging them to discover what they have in common as well as understand how personal experience can lead to differing points of view and how that experience can foster tolerance.

My goals as a Watson Fellow are three fold. First, I aim to pilot a process for collaborating with islanders. In validating the perceptions of islanders, I plan to address the principal failing in Island Studies: the study “of” rather than “by” or “with” islanders on their own terms.

Second, I seek to define my own vision of civic journalism, specifically, exploring the use of audio stories as a civic tool rather than solely a cathartic art form. I want to learn how to listen and to learn from a community - allowing storytelling projects to slowly emerge in collaboration with and serving those people I interview. I want to investigate different production and interview methods and train others in simple storytelling techniques. I will gather feedback from the people who tell me their stories to learn what is beneficial about the process, how it might be improved, and how it might be applied.

My third goal is to use the stories I/we collect to inform dialogue about sustainability in a more personal, illuminating manner. In doing so I can challenge mainland perceptions of islands as irrelevant backwaters while also broadening my understanding of sustainability practices on a grassroots level. I ultimately hope to contribute this insight to the preservation of Maine’s islands.