Situating Island Resilience

Resilience as a complex concept has been recognised and employed to strategise mitigation policies and processes during disruptive events. Island resilience in particular is used to frame islanders and their societies as vulnerable entities combating uncertainties with limited resources and capacities. On the one hand, public discourse on island nations tends to centre around victimhood amid disasters; on the other hand, islands are portrayed as peaceful and idyllic paradise during regular times. This opening chapter uses the term ‘imaginary’ to signify such discourses that construct one’s understanding of island societies. We first outline the conceptual framing around the evolution of resilience. Then we elaborate on four prominent ‘imaginaries’ of Small Island Developing States and island societies in general. By unpacking the term ‘imaginary’, we aim to expose the dominant discursive framing of island societies to elucidate constructive avenues for locally owned progress and development in an increasingly variable and glocalised world.