Another strawman argument (if it is a ‘structure and not an event’, and therefore not only ‘a structure’, it is also a relationship and a process): Warren Bernauer, ‘Canadian settler colonialism: Structure, event, relationship, or process?’ Canadian Geographies, 2024 | settler colonial studies blog

Another strawman argument (if it is a ‘structure and not an event’, and therefore not only ‘a structure’, it is also a relationship and a process): Warren Bernauer, ‘Canadian settler colonialism: Structure, event, relationship, or process?’ Canadian Geographies, 2024

07Jul24

Abstract: Geography scholarship examining Canadian colonialism often draws upon concepts and
categories from the field of Settler Colonial Studies, including Patrick Wolfe’s definition of
settler colonialism as a “structure rather than an event.” In this brief intervention, I argue
that historical Marxist debates about structuralism and social class have important
lessons for the way geographers characterize Canadian colonialism today. The definition
of class as both relationship and process is especially relevant, because Indigenous
intellectuals and activists tend to speak about (de)colonization in similar terms. By
reframing Canadian colonialism as relationship and process rather than structure, we can
better engage Indigenous criticisms of Settler Colonial Studies, understandings of (de)
colonization, and epistemologies and ontologies.

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