The small Island of St Helena is a British Overseas Territory. In 1981 the British Nationality Act denied the islanders their British citizenship rights and in 2002 their rights as British citizens were fully restored. As a consequence of the return of British citizenship, a new wave of migration has occurred whereby many islanders are migrating to the UK. Embedded within an ethnographic framework, the thesis draws upon 68 interviews undertaken with St Helenians both on and off the island. Drawing upon the islanders stories, narratives and repertoires, this thesis oscillates between the two fields of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies. The analysis combines the anthropological truth claims of the community, as well as utilizes a post-structuralist approach that investigates the data for a micro understanding of discourse, ideology, identity, nuance and complexity, that demonstrates the paradoxical investments for the islanders. For cultural analytical triangulation, the theoretical concepts of Althusser, Bourdieu, Plummer and Bakhtin have been drawn upon, to investigate the feelings, emotions, cultural values and symbolic practices as demonstrated by the St Helenian community themselves. This thesis is a study of St Helenianness alongside Britishness and Islandness. Migration, identity, Diaspora, transnationalism and citizenship are common themes within this thesis, but the contribution is specifically to island studies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:560416 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Parker, Charlotte |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/51501/ |
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