The Insular and the Archipelagic: Epistemological Responsibility in Thinking With and From the Chiloé Archipelago

The Chiloé Archipelago has been approached within island studies, yet its engagement with archipelagic thinking remains limited. This article seeks to ‘think with’ and ‘think from’ Chiloé, two notions central to recent debates in the field. Drawing on historical, ethnographical, essayistic, and mythological vignettes, I argue that Chiloé has come to be constituted as an archipelago through ‘insularization’. In this process, the insular and the archipelagic are not opposed–as certain discussions in the field have implied–but coexist as figures that mediate experience: insularity, despite its colonial and imperial undertones, cannot simply be discarded. Approaching Chiloé–and other archipelagos–therefore entails an epistemological responsibility. Both thinking with and thinking from must account for archipelagic specificity, acknowledge researchers’ participation in constituting archipelagos, and situate archipelagic thought where it is produced rather than introducing a priori content. A ‘thinking from’ Chiloé, and potentially other archipelagos, is a locus to be reached, always unfinished. I propose that this epistemological responsibility is essential to honor the principle of ‘islands on their own terms’, which remains crucial for island studies.