“Shut up for five years”: locating narratives of cultural workers in Scotland's islands

Recent research and active promotion suggests that islands and remote rural locations in Scotland do offer “attractive places to live and work”. The purpose of this paper is to explore the narratives of cultural workers, and to derive from this a further nuanced appreciation of what in-migrants to islands might express as meaningful in reference to an idea of ‘locating narratives'. We look at how the narratives vary depending upon the connection and identity the cultural workers articulate. These narratives, or social stories, the participants tell contribute to our understanding of in-migrants' experiences on remote islands and offer a timely contribution to debates on how we might better understand “good work” in terms of decisions to locate on islands, as nuanced through cultural work identities. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.