Institute of Island Studies | Dr. Laurie Brinklow

Assistant Professor

Chair
Institute of Island Studies Executive Committee

Co-ordinator
Master of Arts in Island Studies program and Undergraduate Island Studies Minor program, UPEI

Dr. Laurie Brinklow is a writer, editor, and former book publisher of Charlottetown’s Acorn Press. She is the Coordinator of the Master of Arts in Island Studies (MAIS) program at the University of Prince Edward Island and Chair of the Institute of Island Studies Executive Committee. Her research focuses on islandness and island identity, including the power of place and story

A 2007 graduate of the MAIS program, she graduated with her PhD in Geography and Environmental Studies from University of Tasmania in 2015. A long-time “islophile,” Laurie was Publishing Coordinator with the Institute of Island Studies from 1990 to 2004 and helped coordinate the North Atlantic Islands Programme (1994-98), which led to the formation of the North Atlantic Forum. In 2015, she chaired the Building Community Resilience Conference (the 10^th North Atlantic Forum and 27^th Canadian Rural Restructuring Foundation annual conference) held in Summerside, and served on the steering committee of the 2016 international symposium, Building Small Island Resilience to Global Climate Change. 

Dr. Brinklow is actively involved in ’Island Studies: A Global Classroom’, an initiative spearheaded by the MAIS program at UPEI. Through this initiative, the MAIS program has established linkages with other researchers and scholars from island universities throughout the world, encouraging and facilitating knowledge-sharing both in person and via video conference. 

Dr. Brinklow is President of the International Small Islands Studies Association (ISISA) and is an ex officio member of the Vinland Society of Prince Edward Island Executive Committee. She is also Iceland’s Honorary Consul to Prince Edward Island.

In 2018, Laurie was awarded the Hessian Merit Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Sessional Instructor at the University of Prince Edward Island. In 2022, her second book of poetry, My island’s the house I sleep in at night, received the Prince Edward Island Book Award for Poetry.

Click here to view Dr. Laurie Brinklow’s CV (2022)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Brinklow, L., Campbell, L., Halliday, A. & MacDougall, I. (forthcoming). “Beyond ‘The Atlantic Bubble’: Considering archipelagic tourism on Canada’s east coast”; In G. Baldacchino (Ed.). Archipelagic Tourism, Second Edition.

Brinklow, L, & Jennings, A. (2024). The Bridge Effect: Critical Reflections in the Age of Technological Solutionism. Charlottetown: Island Studies Press.

Foley, A., Brinklow, L., Corbett, J., Kelman, I., Klöck, C., Moncada, S., Mycoo, M., Nunn, P., Pugh, J., Robinson, S., Tandrayen-Ragoobur, V., & Walshe, R. (2023): Understanding “Islandness”, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 0(0) 2023, pp. 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2023.2193249

Brinklow, L. (2022). Book review: Laura J. Getty (2021). Islands and captivity in popular culture: A critical study of film, television and literature. In Small States and Territories, 5(1): 235-238. 

Brinklow, L., (2022). Studying islandness through the language of art. Geographical Research, special section edited by E. Stratford, G. Baldacchino, & E. McMahon.  

Kizos, T., Russell, S., Brinklow, L., Sentas, S., Randall, J.E. (2021). Island identities? Comparing the perceptions of islanders towards governing institutions and quality of life, Small States and Territories, 4(2): 325-348. Brinklow, L. (2022). Book review: Laura J. Getty (2021). Islands and captivity in popular culture: A critical study of film, television and literature. In Small States and Territories, 5(1): 235-238. 

Brinklow, L. (2022). Book review: Karides, M. (2021). Sappho’s Legacy: Convivial Economics on a Greek Isle. In Island Studies Journal, 17(1). 

Brinklow, L., Lévêque, P., & Sark, C.G. (2021). Prince Edward Island/Epekwitk. In State of Rural Canada 4.0. Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation.  

Brinklow, L., Marshall, R., & Whiteway, B. (2021). Exploring climate change through the language of art. In S. Brunn (Ed.). The handbook of the changing world language map. New York: Springer. 

My island’s the house I sleep in at night
Laurie Brinklow

Island Studies Press | 2021

Drawn from interviews with artists, writers, and musicians from Newfoundland and Tasmania, these poems capture what it means to be an islander. To know every rock and tickle, “the sea your road/the hole in the sky/your light to travel by.” 
Click here for more details and to purchase

Brinklow, L. (2021). Institute of Island Studies: Contributing to Public Policy on PEI. Document summarizing the IIS’s contributions to climate change and environmental education and public policy on PEI.

Randall, J., Brinklow, L., & Chapman, M. (2021). Prince Edward Island (COVID-19 Island Insight Series, no 16). University of Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, University of Prince Edward Island Institute of Island Studies, and Island Innovation. – Click here to read | More about the COVID-19 Island Insights Series

Randall, J. E., Brinklow, L., & Chapman, M. (2021). Insular knowledge: Building a community of islands through knowledge mobilization. In Imagining the future of Knowledge Mobilization: Perspectives from UNESCO Chairs (pp. 79-94). Canadian Commission for UNESCO.

Brinklow, L., with Whitten Henry, M. J. (2020). Island responses to COVID-19 (CRRF Rural Insights Series: COVID-19, no. 1.12). Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation. http://crrf.ca/ri-islands

Connor, H., Brinklow, L., & Fenech, A. (2020). An icy layer of isolation: Prince Edward Island’s sea-bound particularity. Shima, 14(1). – Click here to read

PRESENTATIONS

From cultural cringe to cultural confidence: The role of islandness in creating resilience
Researching Resilience in Islands | November 16–17, 2020
Hosted by Birkbeck, University of London as part of the SUNRISE project. 
Click here to watch the video

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

OTOK Podcast | June 2020
S1E09 – Prince Edward Island and Laurie Brinklow
Laurie joins host Bojan Fürst to discuss her favourite subject: art and islands.
Click here for more details and to listen

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