The ballad dance of the faeroese: Island biocultural geography in an age of globalisation

Boundary issues are central to globalisation - the expansion and time-space integration of human societies - and to both biological and cultural diversity. The latter are, in turn, intrinsically related in processes of coevolution that generate change in the patchwork quilt of cultural and natural landscapes. These processes are especially discernible in small island societies. This paper argues that island studies can enhance our understanding of globalisation processes and how these are involved in the displacement of boundaries and the historically unprecedented decline in both biological and cultural diversity.