Humanitarian settlers are absolutely settlers: Darren Reid, ‘Indigenous Rights, Philanthropy and Humanitarian Governance across the Anglo World, 1837–1951’, The Historical Journal, 2026 | settler colonial studies blog

Humanitarian settlers are absolutely settlers: Darren Reid, ‘Indigenous Rights, Philanthropy and Humanitarian Governance across the Anglo World, 1837–1951’, The Historical Journal, 2026

09Feb26

Abstract: This article examines how three nineteenth- and twentieth-century philanthropic organizations– the British Aborigines’ Protection Society (APS), the American Indian Rights Association (IRA), and the Australian Association for the Protection of Native Races (APNR)functioned simultaneously as opponents of colonial violence as well as instruments of colonial governance. These groups were vociferous advocates for Indigenous rights and welfare, yet they also directly contributed to building administrative structures of empire. The APS workedtogeneratemetropolitaninterestinIndigenousaffairs,framingprotectoratesasboth economically beneficial and a matter of national security. The IRA positioned itself as a factf inding body, supplying the US government with on-the-ground surveillance that enabled moreprecise administrative control. The APNR acted as a public relations arm for Australian settler governments, deflecting criticism of state violence while promoting assimilationist policies. All three organizations reinforced colonial authority by outsourcing key governmental functions to private actors, and their reliance on voluntary labour and philanthropic donations underscores the contingency of imperial rule on non-state institutions. Bridging historiographies of humanitarian activism and colonial governance, this article argues that these groups were not merely critics or collaborators but infrastructural components of empire.

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