SDGs and Trends in Island Studies

It has been another busy week here in Okinawa: I was invited to give the keynote at the 5th #SDGs Research Symposium at the University of the #Ryukyus.

I was also on a Panel Discussion with my Okinawan colleagues Dr.Ginoza (gender and militarism in Okinawa) and Dr. Matsubara (disaster prevention and resilience in islands), whose research demonstrated the #interdisciplinary nature of #islandstudies.

I really enjoyed the conversation with my fellow panelists and the appreciative audience on how interdisciplinary approaches can address challenges in island studies and how island studies can contribute to achieving the #SDGs.

And the feedback proved the importance of interdisciplinary islands research:

“I was very interested in discussing with you from the fields of humanities, social sciences, education, ..., and I found it fascinating. In particular, the way you think about islands is completely different from how I had approached them—I now regret that I had only considered their geographical features. I have always considered myself to be engaged in interdisciplinary study, but I now realize that my approach to interdisciplinary was NOT sufficient. “

“I hope discussions between humanities and science majors will continue actively, leading to new island projects in the future. No, let's start a new project together!”

“All the speakers, including the interpreters, delivered an excellent performance. Thank you. I hope to continue learning from similar interdisciplinary discussions that integrate both science and humanities perspectives.”