« The roots of settler colonialism: Aysha Sana, ‘Olive Trees, Resistance, and Colonial Contestations in Palestine: A Political and Ecological Analysis’, in Priyanka Chandra (ed.), Undisciplining IR: Beyond Mainstream International Relations, Routledge, 2026
Settler psychopathologies: Shakeel Anjum, Anissa Haddadi, ‘Symptoms and the Symptomatologists: A Study of Settler Psychopathology’, in Priyanka Chandra (ed.), Undisciplining IR: Beyond Mainstream International Relations, Routledge, 2026 »

Settler colonialism in Vietnam: Ngan ‘Hazel’ Le, ‘Indigeneity and Ecology in Vietnam: A Settler Colonial History’, Backstory, 2, 1, 2026

29Jun26

Abstract: This paper examines the complex nature of indigeneity in Vietnam within a broader settler colonial framework. While Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups are officially recognized as minorities, the inhabitants of the Central Highlands—including the Co Tu, Jarai, Ede, and Cham peoples— are specifically identified here as Indigenous, owing to their status as original inhabitants of the southern mountainous regions. Drawing on chronological analyses of French colonialism, the U.S.-Vietnam War, and postwar Vietnamese government resettlement policies, I argue that Indigenous Vietnamese communities have faced overlapping and distinct forms of colonialism that have systematically disrupted their lands, livelihoods, and cultural histories. The concept of salt-water settler colonialism is used here to complicate the recognition of Indigenous identity in Southeast Asian contexts, where long-term European land occupation did not occur. Employing Espiritu’s method of critical juxtaposition, I compare the experiences of Co Tu women in Quang Nam Province with those of Pawnee and Lakota women in the United States. In both cases, Indigenous women emerge as central agents of ecological resilience, whose knowledge and practices offer essential models for contemporary climate justice. Centering Indigenous women’s narratives is crucial to understanding the entangled relationships between colonialism, Indigeneity, and the environment.


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