« With a chapter on settler colonialism as banishment: Lisa Bhungalia, ‘Governing Banishment: Settler Colonialism, Territory, and Life in an Economy of Death’, in Mat Coleman, John Agnew (eds), Handbook on the Geographies of Power Research, Elgar, 2018, pp. 313-331
The lenses of settler colonialism: Karen Hughes, Cholena Smith, ‘Un-filtering the settler colonial archive: Indigenous community-based photographers in Australia and the United States – Ngarrindjeri and Shinnecock perspectives’, Australian Aboriginal Studies, 1, 2018, pp. 2-18 »

‘Untangling settler identities from settler colonialism’: Laura Hurwitz, Shawn D. Bourque, ‘Killing the settler to save the human: The untidy work of unsettling Klamath river’, Fourth World Journal, 17, 1, 2018, pp. 28-40.

25Jul18

Abstract: The specter of settler colonialism fills every sliver of the United States. This article studies the current moment of settler colonialism in the Karuk homeland on the Klamath River in Northwest California. Part of this moment has been the emergence of Unsettling Klamath River, a group of settlers engaging in the work of “unsettling.” Analysis and critique of this group’s political actions and internal dynamics are traced by the authors, who are also co-founding members. Specifically discussed is controversy raised by Unsettling Klamath River sending an open letter to a local commune, Black Bear Ranch, asking them to “close the portal” due to problematic consequences on Indigenous communities and suggest repatriating the land as a small contribution to decolonization and settler responsibility. The way white settler fragility manifests on the ground is analyzed. It is argued that only by separating our affinity and untangling settler identities from settler colonialism – in short, a death of the settler – might we end our complicity with the settler colonial system and potentially gain back our humanity.


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