This study examines how the South Seas Mandate (Nan’yō) was visually constructed through postcards produced under the Japanese Empire. While the South Seas Mandate functioned as a key site of Japan’s southward expansion, it was not simply incorporated into the imperial domain as a pre-given space; rather, it required cultural and visual mediation in order to be recognized within Japanese society as a “new southern region.” In this process, postcards played a central role in shaping how the region was perceived and imagined. Focusing on approximately twelve postcard images, this study argues that the South Seas Mandate was represented as a dehistoricized tropical space through a systematic visual regime. These postcards repeatedly depict tropical landscapes and indigenous life while largely excluding historical traces and social conditions. Through this selective visual composition, the region is presented not as a historically layered place but as a stable and timeless environment. At the same time, images of modern infrastructure and administrative space depict the South Seas Mandate as an ordered and governed environment, while omitting the violence and labor underlying colonial development. Building on Edward W. Said’s insight into the ahistorical logic of imperial representation, and extending the critique articulated by Naoto Horikiri regarding the surface-oriented and depoliticized nature of Japan’s southern imagination, this study demonstrates that visual images did not merely reflect colonial space but actively produced it. In particular, it shows how these representations contributed to the production of topophilia, understood as an affective attachment to place mediated through visual images. By analyzing these visual strategies, this study argues that the South Seas Mandate was not simply represented but actively constructed as a “tropical paradise” through imperial visual politics. In doing so, it highlights how colonial space was produced not only through physical control, but also through the organization of perception and affect.
Tourism drives the economy of small islands but frequently exceeds ecological and social carrying capacities, undermining long-term sustainability. While Butler’s Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC) model is widely used to assess destination maturity, it offers a linear, deterministic view that often fails to capture the complex, non-linear interactions driving destination evolution. Addressing this limitation, this study integrates TALC with a qualitative Systems Thinking approach to map the causal mechanisms among sustainability challenges in the case of Con Dao Islands, Vietnam. Results position the island in the transition to the “Consolidation” stage; however, the systems analysis reveals critical structural vulnerabilities hidden by standard growth metrics. Crucially, the analysis highlights the absence of a proactive regulatory feedback loop, suggesting the current system is designed to self-correct only through environmental decline. This study offers a holistic dynamic hypothesis to guide policymakers from reactive planning toward resilient, systemic management.
The premodern East Asian maritime region was a space in which various political entities and seafaring populations interacted to forge a distinct international order. By analyzing historical incidents of Jeju islanders’ drift to foreign lands and their return, this study demonstrates that the regional framework extended far beyond a mere vertical system of domination. Rather, it functioned as a ‘hierarchical reciprocal order’ in which mutual protection and responsibility operated even within a symbolic hierarchy. During this period, the Hua-Yi order (a Sinocentric center-periphery framework) and the Confucian ideology of yechi (禮治, ritual governance) in East Asia viewed castaways as subjects to be protected within the civilized world. This perception was institutionally embodied through the political principles of sadae-jaso (事大字小, serving the great and cherishing the small) and yuwon-mui (柔遠撫邇, placating those from afar and soothing those near). Driven by these principles, a series of repatriation procedures for foreign castaways became established as an official interstate administrative framework within the investiture-tribute system. In particular, from the eighteenth century onward, bolstered by the expansion of the Qing dynasty’s maritime dominion and the stabilization of diplomatic and trade networks among East Asian states, the castaway repatriation system became increasingly systematic. In sum, this paper comparatively analyzes the historical cases of Jeju islanders who drifted to China, Japan, Ryukyu, Taiwan, and Annam (Vietnam), examining the repatriation mechanisms enacted by each country of landfall. The findings confirm that the premodern East Asian repatriation system for castaways was not limited to benevolent rescue activities. Rather, it functioned as a ‘peacekeeping mechanism’ inherent to the maritime order, effectively combining a civilized hierarchical structure with practical cooperation.
The coastal communities of Cirebon inhabit a dynamic socio-ecological environment characterized by seasonal fluctuations, tidal flooding, declining marine yields, and limited access to markets and capital. While previous studies have emphasized economic and technical aspects of coastal entrepreneurship, limited attention has been given to the cultural logic underlying entrepreneurial practices. This study examines how maritime cultural logic shapes fishpond entrepreneurship through ecological adaptation, family organization, and local cultural values. Using an ethnographic approach, data were collected through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and field observations. The findings show that livelihood diversification across fishing, aquaculture, and agriculture enables households to manage environmental uncertainty and stabilize income. The family serves as a production unit and a source of social capital through labor sharing, trust-based networks, and risk-sharing mechanisms. Gendered divisions of labor strengthen household resilience, while local values such as tabah (perseverance) and nerimo (acceptance of uncertainty) provide moral resources for entrepreneurial decision-making. The study demonstrates that coastal entrepreneurship is a culturally embedded practice shaped by maritime habitus, family social capital, and local values thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of adaptive and sustainable entrepreneurship in coastal communities.
This article offers critical reflections on the Evergreen Maritime Museum in Taipei, Taiwan. It examines six key artifacts from the permanent collection as windows into the museum's curatorial priorities and the tensions between its corporate identity and its Taiwan-specific maritime heritage. The six objects are the bamboo sailing raft of Kaohsiung, the Wang Ye ceremonial boat and koi pennant, the stellar board (qianxingban) replica, the painting ‘HMB Endeavour Breached for Repairs’ by J. Steven Dews, the Evergreen container ship models, and the Tao boat of Orchid Island. These are situated within the relevant scholarly literatures in maritime anthropology, museum studies, and folklore studies. The article argues that while the museum presents a rich and accessible collection, its dominant narrative of global commercial maritime modernity and technological progress overshadows a more distinctive yet less-known story rooted in Indigenous seafaring cultures, folk religion, and the Austronesian connections that link Taiwan to Pacific Island cultures. A comparative analysis with other small-scale maritime museums in Southeast Asia, through the lens of Indigenous inclusion and living maritime heritage technologies, is proposed for future work.
This paper aims to discuss cultural activism for a sustainable land and marine environment through two performing arts in a bamboo garden and on a beach in Jember Regency, East Java Province, Indonesia. To analyze the two performing arts and their discourses conveyed to the public, we applied postcolonial ecocriticism, which emphasizes academic efforts to reveal the interests of advocacy and activism in response to environmental problems through cultural works. This perspective also criticizes environmental policies which continue the similar exploitative practices conducted by the European colonizers. The results of this study show that the two performing arts convey ecological messages that remind the public of the importance of caring for the ecosystems in which they and other living creatures live. The two performances also campaign for public and government environmental awareness, especially regarding the commitment to preserving the land and marine environments. In addition, they become cultural criticisms of government environmental policies, because many green areas are still exploited for profit.
With their natural beauty, Indonesian islands have been developed into tourist attractions and intensively promoted by the state. This study examines tourism narratives of Indonesian islands in promotional videos produced by the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and published on its official YouTube channel, Wonderful Indonesia. Focusing on videos featuring Likupang (2022), Bangka-Belitung (2022), and Sumba (2020), the study analyses how these islands are discursively constituted and rendered as desirable destinations. The findings reveal how state-driven tourism promotion reproduces political and cultural imaginaries of the “Outer” islands as spaces distant from Java, the center of the country’s political and economic life. The videos also reproduce a colonial gaze through the feminine aestheticization and exoticization of the islands, framed through tropes of untouched beauty, mystery, and discovery. Women are positioned ambivalently as both subjects and objects of the tourist gaze, with their bodies mobilized to embody the islands’ beauty and mystique while signifying promises of pleasure and exotic experience. Local women, in particular, are foregrounded to symbolize natural beauty and cultural authenticity, celebrating difference while simultaneously domesticating and commodifying the ‘Outer’ islands for tourism consumption by global audiences, as part of Indonesia’s broader project of nation branding and tourism-driven economic development.
Amid the systemic pressures of global capitalism and the historical legacy of gastro-colonialism, the Cireundeu indigenous people of West Java, Indonesia, have demonstrated a profound form of food sovereignty spanning over a century. This study employs a decolonial framework and Foucaultian genealogy to analyze the Cireundeu community’s resistance to the homogenization of rice-based diets imposed during the Dutch colonial era. By prioritizing cassava (tuang sampeu) as a primary staple, the community has effectively enacted epistemic de-linking, transforming a biological necessity into an embodied praxis of cultural and economic independence. The findings reveal that while modern pressures, such as formal education and market commodification, threaten to dilute indigenous knowledge, the Cireundeu people maintain their heritage through internal organizational structures and a philosophy of adaptability (Ngindung ka Waktu, Mibapa ka Jaman). This paper argues that the Cireundeu model offers a vital alternative to the resource curse and provides a resilient framework for sustainable food systems in peripheral regions. Ultimately, their struggle underscores the importance of diversifying food systems as a prerequisite for true national and regional sovereignty in the Global South.
The Bajau community regards the sea as the primary spatial domain of its existence. This research explores Bajau habitat patterns from ecological and geospatial perspectives while contributing to sustainable preservation of cultural heritage and the marine environment. The study aims to: (1) Identify the spatial distribution of Bajau habitats; (2) Examine the synergy between Bajau community and coral reef ecosystems; and (3) Elucidate the conceptual framework linking Bajau habitats with coral reefs. Research findings show that Bajau habitats form a patterned, linear configuration extending from coral reef zones and shallow waters to stilt habitats above the sea, coastal fringes, and terrestrial. Synergy between Bajau community and coral reefs operates adaptively through proximity, coastal space use, and everyday practices sustaining a functional relationship with the sea. This relationship is maintained directly in marine-based habitats through transitional shoreline spaces, and indirectly within land-based Bajau habitats mediated by mobility and infrastructure. The Bajau people conceptualize habitat as a relational socio-ecological-spatial system, where coral reefs, land, and cultural practices are understood as interrelated components that collectively sustain ecological, material, social, and spiritual sustainability.
Assessing the vulnerability of insular environments has become a major challenge in the context of increasing anthropogenic pressures and climate-change impacts. This study proposes a rapid environmental vulnerability assessment methodology, here applied to the best of the authors' knowledge in the international peer-reviewed literature to all Algerian coastal islands. The framework is based on a Global Vulnerability Index (GVI) integrating 21 ecological, socio-economic and environmental criteria, weighted using a hierarchical Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with two levels (cluster and sub-criterion) to ensure that all pairwise comparison matrices satisfy Saaty's consistency threshold (CR < 0.10). This approach enables the prioritization of pressure levels affecting insular ecosystems using accessible data, while ensuring methodological robustness and reproducibility. A total of 36 representative insular sites were selected from 611 identified along the Algerian coastline and analyzed under five thematic scenarios: a balanced Normal scenario, plus Fishing, Tourism, Urbanization and Ecological-Sensitivity scenarios. The results were integrated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) to produce vulnerability maps. Spatial analysis highlights clear regional contrasts: marked heterogeneity in the western sector (GVI 0.21 – 0.80), more uniform vulnerability in the central sector driven by diffuse urbanization (GVI 0.40 – 0.51), and dominant fishing pressures in the eastern sector (GVI 0.36 – 0.56). A Monte-Carlo sensitivity analysis (±10 % and ±20 % perturbations of the AHP weights, 1 000 iterations) confirmed the robustness of the rankings (mean Spearman ρ > 0.98). A Chi-square goodness-of-fit test against a uniform distribution further confirmed that the GVI discriminates significantly between sites (χ² = 92.6, df = 4, p < 0.001). The methodology provides an operational decision-support tool for coastal management.
This study examines the public sphere formation associated with Spain’s Generation of ’98 and employs it as a comparative framework for understanding contemporary youth crises in Busan and Jeju, South Korea. We analyze three aspects of public sphere vitality—openness, rational-critical discourse, and institutional impact—using Habermas’s theory of the public sphere. As the analysis demonstrates, the youth crisis in Busan is not only an outcome of economic contraction, demographic decline, and out-migration in a post-industrial society but also the result of the loss of independent cultural spaces and inadequate structural conditions for youth discourse to affect policy. In contrast, Jeju is experiencing a youth crisis stemming from tourism-centric development, increases in living pressures, and the disappearance of local and traditional cultural spaces. In both contexts, the difficulties faced by young people are both socioeconomic in nature and a consequence of the contraction of communicative spaces where young people can interpret regional change, voice shared concerns, and forge collective futures. The Generation of ’98 is a case in point of how intellectual/cultural agents can create a movement that turns crisis into public reflection, albeit within a bounded and socially limited arena. Drawing on this comparison, we propose a youth-led regional cultural commons as a tool for enhancing the agency, deliberative participation, and regionally-based democratic renewal of young people.
This article examines how the Sasak people of Lombok, Indonesia, navigate identity, cultural preservation, and economic survival amid an externally imposed Mandalika Economic Zone development project. Drawing on original fieldwork comprising ten in-depth semi-structured interviews with MSME actors including weavers, homestay operators, local traders, youth leaders, and a civil society representative, this article argues that islandness can be understood not merely as geographic insularity but as a condition of cultural boundedness and adaptive subjectivity. Such boundedness, as this article argues, constitutes a distinct form of resilience for Sasak communities. Rather than passivity in the face of large-scale commodification, Sasak MSMEs exhibit a form of sub-state agency: asserting cultural identity, negotiating market access, and contesting developmental narratives without formal political authority. Utilising Baldacchino’s theorisation of islandness as resource, Grydehøj’s framework of island identity politics, and some International Relations ideas on constructivist concepts of identity and norm contestation, this paper argues that the Sasak case shows how island communities mobilise cultural boundedness as a strategic asset in the global tourism economy.
This article examines UNESCO World Natural Heritage designation’s multifaceted impacts on Amami Ōshima, Japan, through perspectives from conservation advocates, media practitioners, officials, tour guides, and community members. Ethnographic research in 2025 combined stakeholder interviews, an anonymous tour guide survey, participant observation, and analysis of institutional documents, media coverage, and petitions. While the 2021 UNESCO inscription increased international recognition and strengthened conservation mandates, it also intensified concerns over overtourism, cultural commodification, and governance failures. Findings indicate an emerging consensus around a “high-value, low-impact” tourism approach, the “Amami Model”, prioritizing ecological integrity, cultural authenticity, and community agency. However, implementation faces barriers including infrastructural deficits, limited community participation in planning, and tensions across municipal, prefectural, and national authorities. Tour guides play a central interpretive and stewardship role but remain economically vulnerable, often reporting inconsistent income. UNESCO designation thus operates as a “double-edged sword,” enabling conservation while attracting pressures that may undermine heritage values. The currently modest tourism increase offers a window to establish proactive visitor management. Sustainable outcomes require governance reforms, investment in guide infrastructure, and prioritization of long-term ecological and cultural integrity over short-term growth. Abram’s phenomenological work on the “more-than-human” world and the animate landscape offers a theoretical lens to articulate what’s at stake in these tensions.
This article presents an examination of oral traditions concerning drifters that have been transmitted on Yonaguni Island, which marks Japan’s southwestern-most point. This oral history, recorded in Dunan munui—one of the endangered languages designated by the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)—comprises a text of 80,000 characters written in katakana. The text chronicles interactions and friendships with three men belonging to a group known as the Fuganutu (people from elsewhere). These individuals arrived from a region that did not correspond to Japan, mainland China, Taiwan, Lan-yu, or the West. This period preceded the incorporation of Yonaguni Island under the Ryukyu Kingdom’s domain. Collaborative research with the last woman who memorized this heritage revealed detailed correspondences with accounts in the 1479 The Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty concerning a drift from Jeju Island to Yonaguni and the survivors’ six-month stay there. After creating a 4,000-word vocabulary list, recording the narrative to build a corpus, and translating it into Japanese, we proceeded with the visualization of key scenes. A picture book authored by the narrator-drawer was published in March 2025, four months prior to her demise. This oral history included numerous life-wisdom teachings passed down through Fuganutu. These encompassed new food sources and fiber materials, cooking methods, drying preservation techniques, and forecasting weather and tidal patterns. Cultural exchange with drifters from Jeju Island significantly influenced environmental governance on Yonaguni Island. The author wished for us to help preserve the memory of an era when the island lived autonomously under female leadership and traded peacefully with places like Taiwan, ensuring that no one suffered from hunger and neglect.
Entanglement in abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear represents a significant threat to cetaceans worldwide, particularly in coastal regions dominated by artisanal fisheries. Preventive strategies that reduce the availability of damaged fishing gear before it enters the marine environment remain limited, especially in small-scale coastal communities. This study documents and analyzes a locally developed practice in Puerto Cayo, central Ecuador, consisting of the direct reuse of damaged nylon fishing nets as reinforcement material in cement-based plastering for bamboo wall structures. The nets, primarily monofilament nylon commonly used in artisanal fisheries, retain sufficient structural integrity to substitute conventional metallic mesh used in bamboo-based construction. Based on direct field observations, this practice is described as a low-cost, accessible, and context-specific solution that extends the functional lifespan of fishing nets on land. From a marine conservation perspective, this reuse reduces the likelihood that damaged nets become ghost gear, thereby indirectly lowering the risk of cetacean entanglement in adjacent coastal waters used seasonally by multiple species, including humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). This practice is further interpreted within a biocultural framework, where local ecological knowledge, material reuse, and livelihood strategies intersect to produce adaptive, community-based responses to environmental challenges. Although no quantitative assessment of mechanical performance was conducted, this study highlights the potential of locally grounded preventive approaches to contribute to marine conservation, circular economy practices, and the recognition of community knowledge in data-poor contexts.
Climate change intensifies livelihood vulnerability in small-island fishing communities, where environmental uncertainty intersects with economic marginality and demographic aging. This study examines how different configurations of livelihood capital shape climate adaptation among elder Sama-Bajau fishers in Wakatobi, Indonesia. Drawing on qualitative interviews and field observations and guided by the Sustainable Livelihood Approach, the analysis explores how human, social, financial, physical, and natural capital interact to influence adaptive capacity. The findings reveal that adaptation is organized around a portfolio of incremental, risk-management practices spanning household resource management, fishing diversification, asset maintenance, and operational preparedness. Human capital, particularly Traditional Ecological Knowledge, serves as the central coordinating resource, while strong social networks support collective risk-sharing. However, limited financial capital, aging-related physical constraints, and restricted institutional access constrain the convertibility of assets and prevent movement toward transformative adaptation. Adaptation thus remains continuity-oriented and bounded within a narrow adaptive space. By analyzing how livelihood capitals interact under conditions of aging, the study contributes to climate adaptation scholarship by demonstrating that resilience can coexist with structural limitations in small-island maritime contexts.
Islands are disproportionate drivers of both cultural and ecological diversity. Yet, both forms of diversity face accelerating and compounding pressures and decline under the effects of globalization, climate change, and inflexible governance regimes. This paper argues that cultural diversity and marine biodiversity on islands are not merely co-located but fundamentally co-constitutive and bidirectional — each sustaining, shaping, and reinforcing the other through ‘biocultural’ feedback loops. The emphasis lies on the intrinsic linkages between cultural diversity and marine biodiversity, particularly in Pacific Island contexts. Drawing on the concept of 'biocultural diversity' and contributing to the framework of an island epistemology, the paper synthesizes coastal case studies from the South Pacific, as well as the Pacific Northwest. These cases demonstrate that Indigenous and local cultural practices — ceremonial systems, customary tenure, seasonal restrictions, and spiritual relationships with marine species and places — need to be in place, and can function as effective, adaptive marine management and stewardship systems with measurable ecological outcomes. The paper calls for a systematic literature review to examine the connections between cultural diversity and marine biodiversity from an island studies perspective, underscoring the fundamental research gap this contribution seeks to address. Together with the other papers in this special issue, this contribution centers interdependence, community resilience, and archipelagic thinking, and discusses how events such as the 2026 World Island Exhibition in Yeosu (South Korea) can amplify island voices and reshape global narratives about islands from sites of marginalization and vulnerability to sources of innovation for sustainable marine futures.
The Ulot Watershed, situated in Samar Island Natural Park (SINP) Philippines, yields critical ecosystem services to the communities surrounding it. This study assessed the physical characteristics, natural landscapes, anthropogenic features and political boundaries of Ulot Watershed which prove crucial to the overall functionality of the watershed. Covering approximately 87,986 hectares, the watershed bounded by the municipalities of San Jose de Buan, Maslog and Dolores in the north, by Hinabangan and Taft in the south, by Can-avid in the east, and by San Jorge in the west, features a diverse range of physical characteristics, including significant elevation gradients (0 to 798.04 meters) and a complex hydrological network with a total stream length of 2,611 km. The analysis of slope distribution reveals a predominance of steep terrains, necessitating effective land management strategies to mitigate erosion risks. Rainfall data over 21 years indicates a moderately wet climate, influencing water availability and vegetation dynamics. Despite its ecological significance, the watershed faces pressures from anthropogenic activities of around 12,600 people, notably unsustainable farming practices and deforestation, leading to biodiversity loss and compromised water quality. This study underscores the urgent need for integrated conservation and management strategies to safeguard the Ulot Watershed’s natural landscapes and ecological integrity, ensuring it continues to provide essential ecosystem services to local communities.
The rapid expansion of coastal and marine tourism has intensified ecological pressure on vulnerable marine ecosystems, highlighting the growing need for effective visitor regulation and carrying capacity management. Although Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and nature-based tourism initiatives have expanded globally, a systematic understanding of how visitor restriction frameworks are conceptualized and implemented remains limited. This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of 39 peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2025 that explicitly address restricted or limited-entry marine tourism. Following the PRISMA protocol, the review applies domain classification, frequency mapping, Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), and UpSet analysis to examine interactions among ecological, socio-cultural, economic, and governance dimensions. Results indicate that the vast majority of studies adopt a multidomain perspective, with Governance & Policy most frequently integrated with Ecological-Environmental approaches. Through qualitative synthesis, six recurring categories of visitor-management mechanisms are identified: spatial zoning, carrying capacity, behavioral-educational measures, governance and justice arrangements, economic incentives, and technological-adaptive systems. Spatial zoning and technological-adaptive approaches emerge as the most frequently discussed strategies, whereas quota-based and economic instruments remain comparatively underexplored. The findings reveal a persistent imbalance between ecological regulation and socio-economic integration, underscoring the need for adaptive cross domain governance frameworks that link ecological indicators with social, economic, and policy instruments.
