Settlers re-change the land because they are settlers (and because they are sovereign): James J. A. Blair, ‘Settler indigeneity and the eradication of the non-native: self-determination and biosecurity in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2017 | settler colonial studies blog

Settlers re-change the land because they are settlers (and because they are sovereign): James J. A. Blair, ‘Settler indigeneity and the eradication of the non-native: self-determination and biosecurity in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2017

19Jul17

Abstract: This article analyses how settlers of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) construct themselves as ‘natives’ through environmental management. Taking a multispecies ethnographic and historical approach to studying the Falkland Islanders’ self-determination claim, I explore a series of ecological practices that demonstrate how some nonhumans become institutionalized into systems of racial and colonial classification whereas others appear natural. I show how agroindustrial and technoscientific value systems categorize human and nonhuman cohabitants according to degrees of political, economic, and ecological status through particular periods in the Falklands: from the eradication of ‘native pests’ (1833-1982) to defence against ‘alien invaders’ (1982-present). Towards a conclusion, I analyse how Islanders have begun to uproot their own ecological imperial past through removal of British-introduced ‘invasive’ species and native habitat restoration. The article argues that attention to how settlers colonize with natives contributes significantly to a critical multispecies anthropology with broader implications for debates on ethnogenesis and indigeneity.

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