‘St Helena, an island between’: Multiple migrations, small island resilience, and survival

Abstract

St Helena is a non-sovereign British Overseas Territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. When full British citizenship was removed in 1981, migration destinations were reduced to Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands. The islanders of St Helena are not only transnational; they are trans-islander. With the return of citizenship in 2002, many St Helenians migrated to the UK, depleting the population on the island, creating doubts regarding the island’s future. Whilst the islanders defended their British national identity, they simultaneously questioned it. This paper demonstrates how although St Helena officially economically relies on the British Government, the islanders themselves support their island through economic remittances. This paper offers an insight into how communities survive during times when their national identity is ruptured. The St Helenian community remains intact; the islanders have ensured this. A suit of Bourdieu’s concepts have been utilised for a theoretically driven understanding of islandness. Islander identity is formed as outward-looking desiring opportunity, freedom of movement and capital, and inward-looking with a strong sense of feeling and attachment to the island. Continuity and survival for this small island community is composed of migration, shift, and rupture.