ANATOMY OF AN ISLAND / SYMPOSIUM 25–27 September 2025
13th Anatomy of an Island – Fragility of Islands and/or Islands of Fragility: Island Lives, Contemporary Changes, and Uncertain Futures will take place from 25 to 27 September 2025 in Jelsa on the island of Hvar. The symposium will bring together 38 scholars with 29 presentations, offering multidisciplinary insights into the current challenges of island life.
This year’s edition opens a discussion on the fragility of island worlds – on how it is shaped, manifested, and understood in contemporary circumstances. Rather than interpreting fragility as weakness or isolation, it is approached as a warning and as an opportunity to rethink the future of islands differently. Reflecting on the fragility of islands raises a whole range of research-relevant questions that point to diverse phenomena: the loss of biodiversity and changes in ecosystems, the uncertainties brought by climate change and natural disasters, depopulation, excessive dependence on tourism, the consequences of overdevelopment and unplanned construction, weak connections with the mainland and the absence of ties with neighboring islands, as well as administrative divisions, the perception of space exclusively as a resource, and heritage as a product.
Special attention will be devoted to the role of civil society, educational initiatives, and practices of care that foster solidarity and community, as well as the challenges of island economies, agriculture, and self-sufficiency. Questions of island economy, agriculture, self-sustainability, identity, and new forms of community will also be addressed. In the context of the various crises that mark our times – climatic, economic, health-related, and ecological – we seek to understand the fractures and ruptures that are becoming increasingly visible in the lives of islands and islanders.
The international scholarly and professional symposium in Jelsa will thus become a meeting point for researchers, islanders, and the wider public, with the aim of viewing island fragility not only as a challenge, but also as an opportunity to shape more sustainable, connected, and just futures.
This year’s symposium is organized by: the association Anatomy of an Island – Center for Research and Development, the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, the Department of Ethnology and Anthropology of the University of Zadar, the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth of the Republic of Croatia, the Municipality of Jelsa, the Jelsa Tourist Board, the Jelsa Municipal Museum, the Jelsa Municipal Library and Reading Room, Hvar Secondary School, LAG Škoji, FLAG Škoji, and the Public Institution Agency for the Management of the Stari Grad Plain.
