Abstract: This paper concerns Let me tell you a story about Israel, a theatrical play tasked with influencing existing perceptions of the Palestine/Israel conflict amongst international audiences. Drawing on the work of philosopher Baruch Spinoza, I explore the complex issue of how to address the need to change people’s political perceptions by using theatre as a form […]

Abstract: Clearing the gorse, a particularly aggressive invasive plant, so that native plants can flourish has been used as a potent metaphor for decolonization, and described as labour appropriate for settlers to perform in the interest of just relations with Indigenous peoples. Yet, this labour is not simply one of negation, for it involves learning […]

Abstract: I use Edward Said’s (in: Culture and imperialism, Vintage, 1993) theory, that nations ‘are narrations: who owned land, could settle, plan its future, are all stories of imperialism. The history teacher could not only consider ‘what to read’, but also ‘how to read’ taking account of the processes of imperialism; of the macro-history of […]

Abstract: The doctrine of popular sovereignty holds that the ‘supreme authority of the state’ belongs to the people, not to the political institutions exercising public power. What are the implications of this view when there is more than one people in the territory of that state? The case of Indigenous peoples highlights this question, as […]

Abstract: This article uses white Canadian settler artist Mary Pratt’s photorealistic paintings of salmon to grapple with the ways in which settler colonialism necessitates anti-relationality between humans and the non-human world. I trace Indigenous (Beothuk and Mi’kmaq) histories of salmon in Ktaqmkuk|Newfoundland to grapple with what Pratt’s seemingly placid visions of everyday domestic settler life […]

Abstract: Since Algeria’s independence from France in 1962 after 132 years of colonial rule (1830–1962), claims and counterclaims for reparations have continually resurfaced in a variety of legal forums and public spaces. A brutal war of decolonization (1954–62) brought an end to France’s settler colony in Algeria, instigating incompatible and ongoing demands for repatriation, restitution, […]

Neve Gordon recently reviewed my latest book in the Times Higher Education. He has ‘reservations’, like the settler societies I have studied. His first critique is that I do not dwell on the Indigenous peoples who had to endure the settler invaders. True. I alert the reader to this issue, as Gordon also acknowledges, but […]

Abstract: One of the mysteries in contemporary world politics is why in recent years Australia has been leading the world in its hawkish approach to China, its largest trading partner. More than most of its allies, the Australian government seems to regard the China emergency — fuelled by threat perceptions ranging from foreign influence operations […]

Abstract: Through a discussion of the first Indigenous women students at the Hampton Agricultural and Normal Institute’s Indian Program in 1879 and the rhetoric surrounding their enrollment, this essay analyzes how raced and gendered discourses were highlighted in different ways at Hampton after Indigenous women began attending. I argue that settler colonial racial grammars underpin […]

Abstract: This is a short overview history of the relationship between Canadian historians and Canadian nationalism. It maps the historiography of Canadian nationalism against its significant manifestations in Canadian society and developments in nationalism scholarship internationally. Three conjunctures when the fate of the nation loomed large in Canadian historiography are featured. Evidence from the Canadian Historical […]