CALL FOR PAPERS

Edited Volume

Island Studies in South Asia: Gender, Culture and Islandness

Seeking chapter proposals for the edited volume Island Studies in South Asia: Gender, Culture and Islandness. This volume emerges at a moment when scholarship in Island Studies and the Blue Humanities has expanded significantly in recent years, yet much of it centers on the Atlantic and Pacific regions. South Asia’s islands including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and its coastal and near-shore island contexts and the Chagos archipelago remain comparatively underexplored. This collection seeks to center these spaces and examine how the distinctive qualities of islands, what scholars term islandness, shape cultural practices, gendered experiences and everyday life.

Islandness encompasses the lived and perceived characteristics of islands: boundedness by water, the interplay of isolation and connection including amphibious relations to the sea, experiences of smallness or vulnerability to environmental and social pressures and the processes through which communities create meaning, identity and belonging in such settings. These qualities are not merely geographical; they profoundly influence household structures, mobility, kinship, care economies, cultural expression and identity formation.

The volume focuses on South Asian island and archipelagic spaces, which carry layered histories of colonial legacies, migration, tourism economies, maritime connections and ecological vulnerability. At the same time, they are vibrant lived environments shaped by everyday cultural practices, community memory and gendered negotiations of space and belonging.

We invite original scholarly contributions that investigate how gender and culture intersect with islandness in these contexts. Particular attention will be given to chapters that explore contemporary or historical contexts and offer fresh insights into gendered cultural dynamics, relationality, and resilience.

Indicative Themes 

We welcome contributions including, but not limited to, the following areas:

• Narratives of everyday life shaped by the sea, migration, labour, and ecological uncertainty

• Gender relations in island households, care work, mobility, kinship, and community memory

• Oral traditions, songs, rituals, storytelling, and material culture in sustaining community and gendered identities

• Literary, cinematic, or artistic representations of island belonging, isolation, displacement, return, or sea connections

• Tourism, migration, economic transformation, and environmental changes reshaping identities and gendered roles

• Islandness (boundedness, relationality, vulnerability, place-making) intersecting with gendered experience and cultural resilience

• Decolonial, feminist, or intersectional approaches to South Asian island geographies in broader Island Studies and Blue Humanities conversations

We are particularly interested in contributions that:

• Extend and transform understandings of islandness through gender and culture lenses

• Challenge dominant imaginaries of isolation, vulnerability, or relationality in island contexts

• Articulate innovative models of belonging, resilience, and interdependence

Submission Requirements

Interested scholars should submit:

• A 300–400 word abstract that clearly outlines the chapter’s central argument, primary sources or examples (e.g., specific islands, texts, or cultural practices), and its contribution to South Asian island studies through the lenses of gender, culture, and islandness.

• A 150–200 word biographical note.

• A list of 5–7 keywords.

Abstracts should articulate a focused, original thesis and show how the proposed chapter advances scholarship on South Asian islands. Only previously unpublished work will be considered. The editors seek a diverse and internationally representative group of scholars from Island Studies, gender studies, cultural studies, literary studies, anthropology, environmental humanities and related fields.

Important Dates

Abstract deadline: 10 May 2026

Notification of acceptance: 10 June 2026

Full chapter submission (6,000–8,000 words, including notes and bibliography): 30 September 2026

AI Policy

Contributors must ensure the originality and intellectual integrity of their submissions. Publicly accessible generative AI systems (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, or similar tools, whether free or paid) may not be used to generate, draft, rewrite, or substantially edit chapter content.

Limited use of AI for brainstorming, organization, or basic assistance is permitted, but only if it does not compose substantive scholarly material. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, authorship, and compliance of their work.

All accepted contributors will be required to formally attest to adherence to these guidelines upon chapter submission.

Submission

Please send all materials as a single document in MS Word format to: southasia.islandstudies@gmail.com. For general enquiries, please contact the editors, Khairunnisa Nakathorige (khairunnisa@manuu.edu.in) and Masrook Dar (masrook@manuu.edu.in).