Wakefield the settler mobiliser: Matthew Birchall, ‘Mobilizing stadial theory: Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s colonial vision’, Global Intellectual History, 2022 | settler colonial studies blog

Wakefield the settler mobiliser: Matthew Birchall, ‘Mobilizing stadial theory: Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s colonial vision’, Global Intellectual History, 2022

20Jun22

Abstract: Edward Gibbon Wakefield articulated one of the most influential theories of settler colonialism in the nineteenth century. Although his writings have attracted considerable attention from scholars, the content of his ideas remains disputed. He has been claimed as both the prophetic voice of a reformed British Empire and the architect of indigenous dispossession, while others have called into question his self-professed originality. This paper explores the place of global mobility in Wakefield’s writings, and it does so by tracking his engagement with stadial theory. While Wakefield’s adaptation of the progressive view of history initially excluded Aboriginal Australians from its analysis, it paradoxically enlarged when put into colonial practice. The article contends that this shift in Wakefield’s theoretical perspective was linked to his role as a colonial agent.

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