Territory, islandness, and the secessionist imaginary: Why do very small communities favour autonomy over integration?
Territory, islandness, and the secessionist imaginary: Why do very small communities favour autonomy over integration?
Small communities should have the most to gain from integration, but the average size of the state is shrinking as island nationalism creates new, and very small, states out of former colonies, and federalised or autonomous territories. “Islandness,” as a proxy for territory, is employed as a resource to justify secession, but mainstream studies subordinate this factor in accounts that privilege ethnic, religious, linguistic, or economic drivers of identity. This article adds to a small body of work that foregrounds territory. Drawing on an in-depth case study of Barbuda's (population 1,600) attempt to secede from Antigua demonstrates how nationalists employ different meanings of territory—legal, cultural, and political—to make the case for secession in the absence of factors commonly theorised to drive identify formation. Barbudan secessionism therefore problematises mainstream theory. It concludes by arguing that paying greater attention to how territory acts as a resource in the nationalist imaginary allows us to re-examine long-standing studies and cases in new and penetrating light.
Barbuda, islands, nationalism, secession, small states, territory
Corbett, Jack
ad651655-ac70-4072-a36f-92165e296ce2
Corbett, Jack
ad651655-ac70-4072-a36f-92165e296ce2
Corbett, Jack
(2020)
Territory, islandness, and the secessionist imaginary: Why do very small communities favour autonomy over integration?
Nations and Nationalism.
(doi:10.1111/nana.12597).
Abstract
Small communities should have the most to gain from integration, but the average size of the state is shrinking as island nationalism creates new, and very small, states out of former colonies, and federalised or autonomous territories. “Islandness,” as a proxy for territory, is employed as a resource to justify secession, but mainstream studies subordinate this factor in accounts that privilege ethnic, religious, linguistic, or economic drivers of identity. This article adds to a small body of work that foregrounds territory. Drawing on an in-depth case study of Barbuda's (population 1,600) attempt to secede from Antigua demonstrates how nationalists employ different meanings of territory—legal, cultural, and political—to make the case for secession in the absence of factors commonly theorised to drive identify formation. Barbudan secessionism therefore problematises mainstream theory. It concludes by arguing that paying greater attention to how territory acts as a resource in the nationalist imaginary allows us to re-examine long-standing studies and cases in new and penetrating light.
Text
Territory Islandness and the Secessionist Imaginary
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 15 January 2020
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
Funding for this research was provided by the Australian Research Council (DP160100897) and the British Academy (SRG1819191216, supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy). I would like to thank participants at the 2019 ASEN Conference, University of Edinburgh, John Connell, Matt Bishop, John Boswell, and two anonymous reviewers who provided incisive comments on an earlier draft. Nick Clarke, David Owen, and Jonathan Havercroft gave helpful advice on relevant literature. Special thanks are reserved for Bob Marsh, Gavin Costigan, and Briony Grey who let me tag along on their trip to Antigua and Barbuda.
Publisher Copyright:
© The author(s) 2020. Nations and Nationalism © ASEN/John Wiley & Sons Ltd 2020
Keywords:
Barbuda, islands, nationalism, secession, small states, territory
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Local EPrints ID: 437440
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/437440
PURE UUID: 0249fccd-bbd9-4cd8-80cb-cf72aa82f548
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Date deposited: 30 Jan 2020 17:37
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:16
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