The Scientific Study of Explanations
Theory
I was recently discussing with the 4FE dudes, those with whom I work on this journal, how Some Islands 3 is different to Some Islands 2. “The 2023 volume is like a sine wave. The articles therein are congruous. Enough. They are individual yet meld together into a constant and coherent whole,” I said. “The 2024 copy presents like an electrocardiogram, an ECG reading where blips and glitches appear and disappear everywhere. Some are short and punchy, some are lengthy and detailed. While not necessarily incongruous, the articles in Some Islands 3 index the nature of theory, the scientific study of explanations. They are as diverse as they are pointed, as easy to digest as they are challenging.”
Some Islands 1 presented some initial sniffs of a soft shift in my and other scholars’ thinking toward a design- and art-based scientific writing and aesthetic. This compilation demonstrated that small titbits and morsels of linguistics coupled with attractive art and design—photography, painting, and musical thinking made worded—can do a lot of work, possibly more than that produced in scientific, peer-reviewed journal articles and books. Some Islands 2 extended this foundation of linguistics, art, and island studies with a 25-article compendium. The collection emerges with no beginning or end, alone and together. The spatial and temporal unfolding of Some Islands 2 continues. We are pleased you are still with us.
“What does theory even mean?” some asked when invited to submit to Some Islands 3. I gave potential authors my own take. It was up to them to formulate their personal briefs and resultant arguments. It is our hope that what you have in front of you is something of a tip of the hat not only to the three main disciplines driving Some Islands journal and the Some Islands project—linguistics, art, and island studies, but also an opening to other subjects relevant to the ambit of this periodical.
A note about the editing. The Some Islands 3 Call for Papers and what I anticipated would develop from the call bear little resemblance to the 15-part main outcome (see 10-article themed section details below). I am pleased with the product and the process that brought about its evolution. I made several decisive executive decisions which changed the tack of the articles separately and as a group. Most (not all) articles are devoid of traditional academic apparatus of references, footnotes, subheadings, and in-this-article-I-will statements. Titles are short, justifications and images are few (some were needed). If a reader wants to delve deeper, they can contact respective authors, contact the editor, or look into the subject themselves. Some Islands is not for spoon-feeding peeps, nor is it for throwing out the I-want-to-learn baby with the this-is-how-academic-writing-is-meant-to-be bathwater. We hope you find the minimal aesthetic attractive and informative.
Some Islands inhabits a particular and definite space in Australian and international intellectual life. No apologies required, no long reference lists or overly defensive positions needed. We say what we want in the way we do. Some Islands 1 (2022) was an introduction to the Some Islands project. Some Islands 2 (2023) was about representation. Some Islands 3 (2024) is about theory and epistemology. Some Islands 4 (2025) will be about basically, meaning ‘basically’, ‘basic’, and all else in between. Please keep reading, writing, and submitting.
If Walls Could Talk: Themed Section on Modern Architectural History and Theory
Avid readers of Some Islands would remember a crucial statement I made in Some Islands 1: “Perhaps Some Islands as a product, its presence within the academic industry, and the associated participants as band members are enough and a decent way to end in academia. Still, I need to pay the rent.” Here, the sensitive and aware would be able to sniff something out, namely that the academic biz is far from an easy jaunt.
After more than 17 years since first travelling to Norfolk Island, South Pacific, to begin what would become my PhD project about Norfolk language and English placenames, Some Islands 3 is pretty much the only toe I have left in the academy. I love the quest for knowledge and its application in the domain of mind and world. Still, still, I deeply query the how, what, and where of the current model of tertiary education in Australia and elsewhere. The typical metaphors at play are ‘bigger is better’ and ‘more is better’. Such positions and associated bean counting has created irreconcilable dissension between means and ends of education, teaching, funding, and human desire, striving, and ambition.
Some Islands makes no claim it is a salve for such. We simply hope that the existence of alternative publication outlets, especially for young and upcoming thinkers, supports communication between people at whichever age and whatever stage in their writing career they are.
The first-ever themed section in Some Islands takes its title from Emma Barber’s reflective piece of the same name. Architectural history and theory are about wishing for if walls could talk. If they could, then writers of architecture would have a much easier job. They could speculate less, listen more.
As regards listening, I heard (read) all of these pieces in their nascent form as undergraduate essays in 2024 in a modern architectural history and theory course at a university in Adelaide, South Australia. This institution will cease to exist in its present form on 1 January 2026. My kneejerk thought: Why should it only be me, a marker, who is availed the pleasure and privilege of reading such work, the manoeuvres of young and budding architectural thinking? If we don’t encourage new blood in publishing such work, isn’t a publication venue like Some Islands hypocritical and not practising what it preaches vis-à-vis being academic adjacent yet inclusive?
‘If Walls Could Talk’ showcases 10 articles written by enthusiastic practitioners of buildings and words. These authors should be softly urged to write more, to dwell on whether capital A Architecture is about creating physical edifices or written polemics, and to query the role of the modern university system in incubating talent in creative disciplines. We plead you to question the same. And we hope Some Islands readers will remember their heady student days.
Joshua Nash
Findon, South Australia
December 2024
Some Islands
A journal of linguistics and art
Number 3 • THEORY
ISSN 2653-5602
Published in 2024 by Some Islands, Findon, South Australia 5023, Australia
Editor
Joshua Nash
jahewangi@hotmail.com
Designers
4FE - 4th Floor Elevator
Eric Bagnara and Dexter Campos
4th.floor.elevator@gmail.com
© Copyright remains with the authors
Front image: Industry, Woodville North, South Australia, Some Islands, 2023
Some Islands Collective is based in South Australia and acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which the work of all Some Islands’authors and artists takes place.