The Countdown Starts

In exactly one month I leave for the Falkland Islands. It will take me three days to get there, stopping in Dallas, Santiago, and Punta Arenas before I finally arrive in Mount Pleasant. Then I'll complete my journey with a drive to Stanley.

I'll spend two months in Stanley working with the Falkland Islands Museum & National Trust on their oral history collection. Using this collection and other sources, I plan to write my masters thesis on the question of national identity in the Falkland Islands.

Why am I so interested in these remote islands and the people who live there? The answer comes from last fall, when I took a course titled British Imperialism. The final assignment was to write a case study on a British colony. Eddie Izzard came to the front of my mind, as he often did that semester. I decided that I wanted to understand why Britain waged war on behalf of 2,000 people and as many sheep.

I've since presented the resulting paper, "The Falkland Islands: Synecdoche for Empire" at two different venues.

I discovered the Falkland Islands Museum & National Trust during my research. After exchanging many emails with the Museum Manager and submitting numerous funding applications, I'm ready to go!

  This is the whole bit on WWII and Imperialism. He gets to the Falklands around 7:20.