« The settler triangle: Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh, ‘Dromore and Trillick: revolution and reaction on a colonial frontier, 1906–22’, Settler Colonial Studies, 2026
Decolonial ruralisation in the settler colony: Ettore Santi, Ethan Matthews, ‘Ruralization as decolonization: Land, property, and possibilities in North America’, Dialogues in Human Geography, 2026 »

Militant ignorance to settler colonialism: Lara Fricke, German Militant Ignorance towards Palestinian Experiences of Israeli Settler Colonialism, PhD dissertation, University of Exeter, 2026

12Apr26

Abstract: This thesis investigates the German discourse surrounding Palestine. Using a conceptual framework combining ignorance, Orientalism and coloniality of power, it complicates previous research into the topic by unpacking the intricate connections between German Holocaust memory and Germany’s position of power within colonial power dynamics. To capture the ways in which both act together to create Germany’s discourse on Palestine, it develops the concept of militant ignorance which it defined as an active production of ignorance which militantly prevents an acknowledgement of ‘threatening’ knowledge and the reality it depicts. This research locates and identifies this German militant ignorance, its mechanisms and roots. In order to do so, it conducts a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of news articles, broadcast contributions, social media posts, open letters and official statements relating to three case studies. These case studies are three discursive events surrounding Nemi El-Hassan in 2021, School for Unlearning Zionism in 2021 and Achille Mbembe in 2020. Each case study presents an incident of a cancellation, defunding or disinvitation campaign against individuals and groups voicing Palestinian experiences of Israeli settler colonialism and therefore (re)produces the epistemic and discursive erasure of Palestinians. The thesis finds that German militant ignorance is produced and maintained through ostracisation and persecution of those presenting Palestinian experiences of Israeli settler colonialism, and through epistemicide against the very body of knowledge of colonial realities in Palestine. It finds that this militant ignorance is rooted in both, German memory culture and its affects, and colonial power.


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