settler colonial studies blog

Settler colonialism is literally a prison: Adam J. Barker, ‘Carcerality and the elimination of Indigenous people in Canada’, Canadian Geographies, 2024

28Nov24

Abstract: Drawing from the logic of carcerality, and refined through theories of settler colonialism, I argue in this paper the following. First, carcerality is not just a tactic of settler colonization in Canada for bodily controlling populations, but a key feature of settler colonial claims to land and territory; imposing carceral spaces on Indigenous people is a fundamental necessity for the expectations and ambitions of settler colonization, and as settler colonization in Canada is ongoing, the expansion of these carceral spaces likewise continues. Second, carceral theory can be used to analyze how Indigenous people are made to “disappear” from settler‐dominated spaces, and expose the interlocking roles of state power and social prejudice in these “eliminations.” As all kinds of frontier spaces—urban, rural, and otherwise—are assimilated into the settler colonial assemblage, Indigenous people are forced into mobility that itself is both carceral and eliminatory. Understanding carcerality as something pervasive in settler society, and not just limited to the criminal justice system, changes how we must approach decolonization.

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Performances against settler colonialism? Christine Balt, Kathleen Gallagher, Nancy Cardwell, Celeste Kirsh, ‘Attending to Settler-Colonial and Indigenous Histories “Being in common” and acknowledging land through site-specific performance’, in Kathleen Gallagher, Christine Bal (eds), Global Climate Education and Its Discontents: Using Drama to Forge a New Way, Routledge, 2024

28Nov24

Abstract: This chapter explores the notion of ‘being in common’ in the drama classroom after quarantine, (re)finding collectivity through drama pedagogies, and reckoning with socio-ecological justice in local sites of learning. Using moving through place, writing-in-role, and found pedagogies as frameworks for learning, the chapter examines how collective explorations of local public places can instigate critical conversations about how socio-ecological injustices are reproduced across time, as well as space. Looking closely at the connections between Canada’s history of settler colonialism, past and ungoing violence against Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit+ Peoples, and ecological destruction, the chapter sees performance offering students the opportunity to become ‘wayfinders’ and meaning-makers in coming to construct their knowledge of the world, collectively, through encounters with place and history.

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Is it Settler colonialism or internal colonialism? Why not both? Warren Bernauer ‘”Settler” and “internal” colonialism in “Canada”: Reconciling competing conceptual approaches to Canadian Colonialism in the North, Human Geography, 2024

28Nov24

Abstract: Geography scholarship about Indigenous politics in Canada frequently draws upon ideas from the field of settler colonial studies (SCS). Yet, criticisms of SCS and the application of its concepts to Canadian contexts are becoming increasingly common. Such criticisms include: an overly rigid distinction between settler colonialism and so-called ‘franchise’ colonialism, a tendency to rely on a small number of non-Indigenous scholars as foundational thinkers in the field and a lack of attention to the ways in which Canadian colonialism has varied across space-time. This article argues that re-engaging the concept of ‘internal colonialism’ – an older approach that focuses on identifying parallels between the imperialist domination of the third world and the colonial subjugation of peoples that are ‘internal’ to nation states – can help advance our understanding of Canadian colonialism.

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Settler colonialism in their heart (defeated revolutionaries often have it): Josephine Becker, ‘Germany then and now: Guilt, white supremacy and sustaining genocide, from the far-right to the radical left’, Human Geography, 2024

28Nov24

Abstract: Germany’s criminalisation of Palestine-solidarity intensified further after the7 October 2023 attack. Given Germany’s historical responsibility for the Holocaust and its commitment to reconcile this history, many attribute Germany’s relation to Israel to that of historical guilt. Considering the event cancellations of academics, artists and activists in Germany who criticise Israel’s settler colonialism of Palestine, which includes increasing institutional and extra-legal violence against Palestine-solidarity protesters, such explanations are far too simplistic. This Contentions article shows how the conflating of Zionism and Israeli settler colonialism with antisemistism are the vehicles through which Germany strengthens its anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, and nationalist white supremacist agenda. Highlighting the internationally lesser-known phenomenon of the autonomous left that celebrates the state of Israel, namely Anti-Deutsche (Anti-German), the article aims to unpack some nuances concerning the acceptance of censorship, reproduction of fascism and support for the Palestinian-genocide that are advanced by the German state and its followers across the ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ political spectrum.

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Settler colonialism from the ground: Rita Matias Bento, Settler colonialism and the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people: The case of Masafer Yatta, MA dissertation University Institute of Lisbon, 2024

28Nov24

Abstract: Since the Catastrophe (al-Nakba) of 1948, the Palestinian population has been subjected to persistent and permanent displacements. This research delves into the historical context of Zionism and its role in the creation of Israel, highlighting the establishment of an ethnocratic state that prioritizes Jewish identity. Additionally, it explores settler colonialism as a key strategy to legitimize and solidify the occupation of Palestinian territories, examining the policies, practices, and narratives that facilitate the continuous expulsion of the Palestinian population. Through the intersection of Zionism, ethnocracy, and settler colonialism, this master’s thesis provides a critical analysis of Israel’s territorial and political ambitions and their impact on the region. Masafer Yatta serves as a central case study to illustrate these dynamics, offering a detailed investigation of the historical and current challenges faced by Palestinians under Israeli rule. By focusing on local realities and Israel’s specific policies in Masafer Yatta, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of the tactics used to dispossess Palestinians and consolidate Israeli control over land and resources.

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Settler pollution: Robert J. Moriarity, Meaghan J. Wilton, Leonard J. S. Tsuji, Atanu Sarkar, Eric N. Liberda, ‘A cross-regional ecological assessment of contaminants in soils intended for agri-food initiatives on Indigenous Peoples’ lands in Australia and Canada’, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 196, 2024, #1245

28Nov24

Abstract: Globally, soil contamination threatens ecosystems and food security. This study examines the contamination of soils intended for agri-food initiatives by Indigenous communities across New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, and Newfoundland and subarctic Ontario, Canada. Soils from 47 sites were tested for metals, metalloids, organochlorine (OC) pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to assess ecological risks and compare against national guidelines. Australian soils were primarily contaminated with lead (Pb) and to a lesser extent with other metals and metalloids, whereas subarctic Ontario soils were heavily contaminated with OC pesticides, and to a lesser extent metals and metalloids. Newfoundland soils contained arsenic (As) concentrations exceeding agricultural soil guidelines with limited OC levels. The contaminants from these sites stem from both anthropogenic activities and natural geological sources; however, their precise origins—whether from the historical use of banned substances or mineral extraction—are not fully elucidated for all sites. This article specifically highlights the need to assess soil to be used in agri-food initiatives for contaminants in rural and remote landscapes in Indigenous homelands worldwide and, in general, for all soil to be used in any agri-food initiative.

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Epistemic settler colonialism: Bindi Bennett, Kelly Menzel, Jacob Prehn, Trevor G. Gates, ‘Australian Universities, Indigenization, Whiteness, and Settler Colonial Epistemic Violence’, in Jioji Ravulo, Katarzyna Olcoń, Tinashe Dune, Alex Workman, Pranee Liamputtong (eds), Handbook of Critical Whiteness: Deconstructing Dominant Discourses Across Disciplines, Springer 2024, pp. 229-241

26Nov24

Abstract: This chapter argues that despite numerous strategies, reports, and scholarship, Australian universities are still largely based on White Western worldviews and as a result continue to perpetrate and perpetuate settler colonial epistemic violence. To overcome the current settler colonial epistemic violence exerted by tertiary education providers, genuine relationships with First Nation peoples and communities need to be established, and space must be made for these communities to speak for themselves within the academy. Universities and governments should follow by providing appropriate allocation of resources for the indigenization of curricula and governance structures, within faculties and campuses. If this is achieved, the Australian tertiary education sector will become an international leader by deconstructing Whiteness, providing a greater educational experience, and exposing graduates to multiple worldviews. We address social work as a discipline and suggest ways forward.

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Settler wastes: Sarah Elizabeth Fox, Vexed Forgetting and Unruly Plumes: Tracing the Settler Wasting Cycle in the Pacific Nortwest across the Long Twentieth Century, PhD dissertation, University of British Columbia, 2024

26Nov24

Abstract: Generated by the movement of waste materials from their point of origin or dispersal, a plumescape is an eco-social landscape resulting from the integration of waste materials into interconnected ecosystems and bodies, which hold or circulate those materials for varying periods of time. These contamination geographies may be produced, described, or altered by human technologies and behaviors, but they do not abide by socially constructed borders, timescales, or ideas about the purported separation of “nature” and “humanity” held by EuroAmerican societies. In the North American West, the production of plumescapes has proliferated since the mid-nineteenth century, illustrating a distinct cycle of environmental decision-making characteristic of settler colonial projects, a phenomenon I call the settler wasting cycle. Based on the survey and analysis of themes and patterns in archival materials, public testimonies, oral histories, and scientific studies, this study examines patterns in the histories of the Victoria, British Columbia sewage plumescape, the Tacoma, Washington ASARCO copper smelter plumescape, and the Hanford plutonium production plumescape, initiated in eastern Washington and spread widely around the larger region. The late establishment of EuroAmerican settler colonialism in this multinational region meant the production of these waste plumes coincided with new scientific understandings of disease, driving settler policy and infrastructural development designed to remove potentially dangerous wastes from proximity to white setter bodies. This dissertation charts the distinct stages and mechanisms responsible for perpetuating the settler wasting cycle, which fails to eliminate dangerous wastes from lived environments, but excels at creating vexed forgetting of the presence and danger posed by those wastes. This vexed forgetting relies on the production of scientific doubt about the health impacts of wastes, and the introduction of new technological and infrastructural strategies which promise (and inevitably fail) to diffuse or contain wastes. This study also traces counter-epistemologies developed from embodied knowledges and community networks, and the influence of those local ways of knowing on social movement organizing within and beyond the plumescapes which shaped them. This dissertation contributes to ongoing discussions in Discard Studies, Environmental History, and studies of the North American West.

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Settler literary regionalism and the conquest of deep time: Michael Boyden, ‘Deep Time and Settler Literary Regionalism in Olive Schreiner’s The Story of an African Farm and Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!’, American Literary Realism, 57, 2 2025, pp. 118-130

26Nov24

Excerpt: The emergence of literary regionalism toward the final quarter of the nineteenth century was largely coterminous with the discovery of what we now call deep time. It might seem ironic that just as theories of evolution started to situate human history within larger temporal scales, the literary imagination appeared to contract, both temporally and spatially, by thematizing small-scale communities seemingly unaffected by the passing of time. However, regional fiction did register the time revolution brought on by new scientific findings. As I argue in this article, it did so specifically in settler colonial situations where an awareness of deep time served to negotiate the complicated dynamic of simultaneous inclusion and exclusion that characterizes such a system of domination. The discovery of deep time in literary regionalism thus should be linked to a specific representational regime predicated on the synchronous erasure and appropriation of Indigenous alterities in settler contexts. This representational regime, I suggest, relied on a discourse of primitivism that allowed it to reconcile the conflicting tendencies of the settler colonial situation.

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There’s something in the (settler) water: Joonsoo S. Lyeo, Yagana Samim, Kate Decter, Nehul Agarwal, Eric N. Liberda, Sarah R. Haines4, Nicholas D. Spence, ‘A Scoping Review of Strengths-Based Drinking Water Policies in Indigenous Communities in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia’, Environmental Reviews, 2024

25Nov24

Abstract: The Indigenous Peoples of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States have faced a shared history of disenfranchisement under settler-colonial paradigms. One consequence of this marginalization has been the widespread deprivation of secure access to safe drinking water in Indigenous communities. To date, much of the literature on Indigenous drinking water access has taken a deficit-based approach, focusing on the factors that are ‘lacking’ in Indigenous communities. Deficit based approaches have been criticized for perpetuating cycles of negative experiences, fostering dependency within the target community, and leading to interventions that are unsustainable and limited in scope. In contrast, this scoping review used a strengths-based investigation of successful Indigenous drinking water policy in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. Through this review of the gray literature published from 2000 to 2024, we identified methods for measuring the success of Indigenous drinking water policies; common features of Indigenous drinking water policies that are said to be successful; and external factors which have been found to contribute to the success of Indigenous drinking water policies. The subsequent thematic analysis revealed a need to leverage the assets within Indigenous communities, drawing upon the strengths inherent to Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural practices, by involving Indigenous Peoples as key stakeholders in the development of drinking water policy. There is an opportunity for policymakers to engage in an iterative process that considers the larger problems we have identified in this review, as well as the community-specific concerns of the Indigenous groups being served.

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