Identity, Language and Belonging on Jersey: Migration and the Channel Islands

Following a short introductory chapter that provides background on methodology and the history of Jersey, chapter 2 of Identity, Language and Belonging on Jersey locates the book within the fi eld of island studies while discussing concepts of islandness, land, and sea.Chapter 3 focuses on historical migrations, from Neolithic times to the German occupation between 1940 and 1945 during World War II.Over the centuries, there have been numerous migrations to Jersey, with most arriving from nearby cultures but some coming from further afi eld.While noting that the Viking settlers from Norman times adopted French, this would have been better explained in terms of linguistic hybridity, along with the branches of Norman languages in the Channel Islands.The author outlines political turbulence over the centuries with wars between England and France and with Jersey on the front line.From these times, migrations to Jersey included French Calvinists, Huguenots, Bretons, Normans, and many from the British Isles.The chapter outlines the growth of tourism from the UK to Jersey from 1823 onwards and especially the rise of nineteenth-century economic migration, which saw skilled workers arriving from mainland Britain, Ireland, Wales, and other locations.There are a few minor points about the status of Jersey that might have been better explained, such as Jersey's connection with the Crown.The chapter closes with a discussion of out-migration, which shows the pressure on some islanders needing to migrate for a better living.Chapter 4 outlines the recent history of Portuguese travelling to Jersey to work as labourers in agriculture, and the shift to mass tourism in the 1960s and 1970s, which witnessed a similar migration to the burgeoning tourism sector.The island's population from soon after the war nearly doubled by 2020 to just over 100,000 as a result of migration, which was mostly from the British Isles, with migrants working in tourism as well as in fi nancial services, the current dominant sector.This author introduces some qualitative data in the form of short interview quotes.Different issues concerning the island's population are covered, which mostly relate to employment law, residency, and citizenship.This leads into the importance of the use of English in everyday life but also includes a discussion of the contemporary multicultural island, or at least some islanders.Just as Portuguese dominated the non-British Isles