Settler what-aboutism: Jayde Fuller, ‘”What-aboutism” as colonial technology: a practical guide for First Nations People – how deflection operates as an automated defence system and how to respond from sovereignty’, Indigenous Regulatory Practice, 11/03/26 | settler colonial studies blog

Settler what-aboutism: Jayde Fuller, ‘”What-aboutism” as colonial technology: a practical guide for First Nations People – how deflection operates as an automated defence system and how to respond from sovereignty’, Indigenous Regulatory Practice, 11/03/26

02Apr26

Abstract: What-aboutism deflection is not a communication failure. It is colonial technology – an automated institutional defence that activates when First Nations Peoples name specific harm and demand specific accountability. This piece argues that what-aboutism functions as a discursive mechanism with identifiable patterns, a documented history, and measurable consequences: in the 18 months following the Voice to Parliament referendum, over half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults experienced discrimination when seeking healthcare. Discrimination is escalating – not improving – precisely as the frameworks designed to address it are being diluted. Drawing on Daniels’ structural harm frameworks, the documented co-optation of Dr Irihapeti Ramsden’s cultural safety into a universal one, and current Mayi Kuwayu data, this piece maps five patterns of what-aboutism, traces their institutional logic, and provides eight sovereignty-based responses for First Nations Peoples who choose to engage them. It closes with a direct address to the institutions and individuals producing the deflections it names.

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