Kathryn A. Burnett is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Cultural Studies, University of the West of Scotland. Ray Burnett is a writer/researcher living and working in the Outer Hebrides. Michael Danson is Professor Emeritus of Enterprise Policy, Heriot-Watt University.The editorial team are co-founders of the Scottish Centre for Island Studies and have worked nationally and internationally with community partners and research and policy experts across a range of island-related projects including cultural heritage curation, small island remote enterprise, and island community assets.

• Contents: Kathryn A. Burnett, Ray Burnett/Mike Danson: Scotland and Islandness: Explorations in Community, Economy and Culture – Ray Burnett: Little Islands on the Edge of the Ocean – Hugh Cheape: Cha ghabhadh na b’ fheàrr fhaighinn («It couldn’t be better»). Gaelic Perspectives on Island Cultural Heritage in Scotland’s Hebrides – Andrew Jennings: «Da Norn is lang gien, but hit’s left a waageng»: The Distinctiveness of Shetland Cultural Identity – Kathryn A. Burnett/Lynda Harling Stalker: Scotland’s Islands and Cultural Work: The «Specialness» of Place – Mike Danson: Regional and Island Economies of Peripheries and Margins: «Nordic and Celtic» Comparisons – Rosie Alexander: Young People, Out-migration and Scottish Islands: Surveying the Landscape – Calum MacLeod: Community Land Ownership and Sustaining Scotland’s Islands: Lessons from the Western Isles – Mike Danson/Kathryn A. Burnett: Margins of Resilience, Sustainability and Success: Island Enterprise and Entrepreneurship – Francesco Sindico/Nicola Crook: The Islands (Scotland) Act: Island Proofing through Legislation – James Oliver: Islandness: Articulating and Emplacing Relationality.

«This remarkable volume focuses on Scotland’s inhabited islands. Experienced editors and contributors explore very timely issues for small island communities, such as the role of cultural capital or strategies for future sustainability. As well as the interrelationship between the islands and the mainland, the volume is outward-looking, taking account of Nordic and Atlantic neighbours. The framing of islandness that occurs in this volume is highly significant as there is strong emphasis on new ways of seeing and imagining islands and island communities. This fascinating interdisciplinary volume is highly relevant for government bodies, academics, island communities, policymakers and practitioners.»(Prof. Máiréad Nic Craith MRIA, Chair of Cultural Heritage and Anthropological Studies Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh)