Lorenzo Veracini, ‘What’s Unsettling about On Settling: Discussing the Settler Colonial Present’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (2013). This article considers the current relevance of settler colonial tropes, narratives and idioms by discussing the opening section of On Settling (2012), a recently published book authored by respected political scientist Robert E. Goodin. […]

Lorenzo Veracini, ‘Understanding Colonialism and Settler Colonialism as Distinct Formations’, Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies (2013). A growing body of literature has characterized settler colonial phenomena as ‘distinct’, and called for the establishment of dedicated interpretative tools. ‘Distinct’, however, begs the question: distinct relative to what? This essay reflects on this distinctiveness, and heuristically […]

Jonathan Hyslop, ‘An “Eventful” History of Hind Swaraj: Gandhi between the Battle of Tsushima and the Union of South Africa’, Public Culture 23 2 (2012). extract: […] Gandhi enters into a reinterpretation of the process of state recon- struction that was occurring within the empire. The second half of the nineteenth century and the start […]

Daniel Rosenblatt, ‘Art and Biculturalism: Innovative Maori Meeting Houses and the Settler Nation’, Visual Anthropology Review 29, 2 (2013).  Two recent carved Maori meeting houses, one in a museum and the other on a polytech campus, manage to break down the boundaries between “contemporary” and “traditional” Maori art. Both houses also attempt to represent the […]

Yanna Yannakakis, ‘Indigenous People and Legal Culture in Spanish America’, History Compass 11, 11 (2013). This article reviews recent literature on indigenous people and the legal systems in colonial Mexico and the Andes, with special emphasis on legal engagement as a form of politics and the making of legal culture. Through mastery of alphabetic writing […]

Ever since its colonial project was set in motion, Zionism has insisted that it seeks to colonise Palestine “peacefully”, indeed that its colonisation of the country will not only not harm the native population, but that it would be of benefit to them. The movement’s founder, Theodor Herzl himself, provided two visions of this future: […]

Botswana’s president, Ian Khama, internationally recognised conservationist, seems to feel that the Bushmen, who live by killing game, must be prevented from doing so. But he didn’t stop King Juan Carlos of Spain shooting elephants in Botswana last year. Increasingly within Botswana people are asking why their government, moderate and successful in other ways, should […]

In short, Ryswyk’s comments may have made her more popular, and her comments clearly resonate with many Canadians.  Others (including the BC Liberals and NDPers) have insisted her comments were racist, offensive, and inappropriate.  Van Ryswyk and her supporters have insisted that Van Ryswyk was just saying what most politicians won’t, because of political correctness.  So is […]