An internal diaspora: opportunities for island repopulation?

Academic researchers and policy makers have had a long-standing interest in diaspora populations. Reflecting an increasingly transnational lens, diaspora research has largely been international in scale, interested in expatriates and their descendants. In this paper we propose that studies of internal diaspora groups represent an opportunity for advancing diaspora studies. Across the world there has been long-term out-migration from island communities and associated island depopulation. Islanders are often internal migrants who settle on the mainland, often in locations where other islanders have moved to in the past which creates opportunities for an islander identity to be sustained. Sustained out-migration from Scotland’s numerous inhabited islands and associated islands depopulation has resulted in generations of islanders settling on the Scottish mainland and the creation of ‘island spaces’, notably in cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Little is known about Scotland’s internal islands diaspora or whether members could contribute to achieving Strategic Objective 1 in the Scottish National Islands Plan, “address population decline and ensure a healthy, balanced population profile” (Scottish Government, 2019)? We present findings from analysis of data collected via a questionnaire survey designed to map attributes of the Scottish islands diaspora to: (i) identify aspirations to return to live in an island; (ii) understand attributes of diaspora members who aspire and do not aspire to return to live in an island; and (iii) identify spatial patterns of return aspirations. Combined, this analysis provides novel insights into the population potential of an island diaspora group.