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Sorry – not sorry: Thea Bladt, ‘Scandinavian Apologies and Compensation to Indigenous Peoples: Human rights violations require meaningful responses, but whether “sorry” is significant depends on the context’, The New Nordic Lexicon, 09/07/24

21Jul24

Abstract: Official apologies for human rights violations perpetrated by colonising countries often attract much media attention. However, the actual meaning of an official apology and the concrete consequences emanating from it are usually highly ambiguous, particularly as indigenous communities may well be advocating for some other type of remedy. Examples from each Scandinavian country suggest that the path from apology to compensation is rarely straightforward, and the popular fixation on the official apology can even obfuscate important steps towards justice for indigenous communities, such as the Inuit and the Sámi. 


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Settler irony, water under the bridge: Teresa Shewry, Philip Steer, ‘Uncertain Waters and Irony in Australian Settler Literatures’, Environmental Humanities, 16, 2, 2024, pp. 351-370

21Jul24

Abstract: Critics are increasingly recognizing the presence of irony in environmental cultures, often stressing its ability to highlight disjunctions between the individual’s convictions and their compromised behaviors. This article extends this work by taking up the relationship between irony and settler-colonial imaginaries in writings about unpredictable bodies of water. Focusing on settler writing in Australia, the article juxtaposes nineteenth-century author Henry Lawson and contemporary novelist Jane Rawson to argue that irony constitutes a form of environmental knowledge, calling up norms and hierarchies regarding water but also creating openings toward waters that cannot be given meaning. Lawson’s writings about ephemeral rivers and lakes stress their divergence from metropolitan ideas of water’s continuity, presence, and visibility. Largely ignoring Indigenous peoples’ relationships with water, his ironies of overturned expectations and norms make contact with but also disparage water in unfamiliar forms. By contrast, Rawson’s A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists (2013) employs irony to grasp how climate-changed floodwater disrupts settler norms founded upon the erasure of floodplains and of Indigenous and colonial histories of urban rivers. Juxtaposing Rawson with Lawson illuminates an ongoing need to be cautious about the ideals that irony may evoke in response to changing and uncertain waters. At the same time, irony provides a multivalent tool to critically address what Mark Rifkin calls “settler common sense,” to glimpse the persistence of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives, and to acknowledge occluded forms of environmental agency.


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In a decolonial mood? Chad Shomura, ‘Decolonial Mood Work’, Theory & Event, 27, 3, 2024, pp. 433-456

21Jul24

Abstract: This essay develops “decolonial mood work,” a political project that changes affective orientations toward crises in settler society and prospects for decolonization. Decolonial mood work is a crucial supplement to scholarship that has focused on demystifying the ideological dimensions of settler colonialism. This essay shows that the regulation of affect is a central, though less addressed, operation of settler state and society. Its case is the management of houselessness in Hawai’i, which is shown to be a settler project that further dispossesses Indigenous peoples by enforcing the affects of settler home.


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Settler lasting, as usual: Keith Thor Carlson, ‘“The Last Potlatch” and James Douglas’s Vision of an Alternative Settler Colonialism’, in Peter Cook, Neil Vallance, John Lutz, Graham Brazier, Hamar Foster(eds), To Share, Not Surrender, University of British Columbia Press, 2021

19Jul24

Excerpt: On April 27, 1864, William McColl, a retired royal engineer turned con-tract surveyor, was still working with Fraser Valley Indigenous leaders to identify lands to be included as Indian reserves when an editorial appeared in the British Columbian under the headline “The Last ‘Potlatch.’” In the article, John Robson directs vitriol at the man who had provided McColl with his instructions – the outgoing governor, James Douglas. Setting himself up as the voice of British Columbia’s emergent settler colonial population, Robson works his prose to undermine Douglas’s authority by suggesting the governor’s well-known empathy and sympathy for Indigenous peoples had caused him to betray the interests of white colonists and, by extension, the future of British Columbia.


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The landscape of settlement: Hong Piao, ‘Manchuria in the Eyes of Yuasa Katsue: The Construction of Manchurian Settlement Landscape in Senku Imin’, Border Crossings: The Journal of Japanese-Language Literature Studies, 18, 1, 2024, pp. 81-94

19Jul24

Abstract: This study analyzes the portrayal of Manchurian settlement in Yuasa Katsue’s Senku Imin, focusing particularly on landscape depiction. The landscapes are examined by distinguishing between natural and human-made elements. The analysis shows that Senku Imin represents the Manchurian settlement through a composite lens of scenes from colonial Korea and the Rehe region in South Manchuria. The paper also explores the symbolic use of ‘horses’ to represent the settlers, a metaphor that subtly underscores the linguistic challenges and ethnic tensions among Manchuria’s diverse populations. Furthermore, the influence of the author’s experiences in colonial Korea and travels in Manchuria is discussed. This study also elucidates how the colonial experiences of second-generation Koreans like Yuasa Katsue intervene in the literature of Manchurian settlements, presenting new possibilities for interpreting the works of a second-generation colonial author.


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The settler coloniality of local administrations: Sandra des Forges, ‘Māori wards and local government democracy: Contested spaces of representation’, New Zealand Geographer, 2024

19Jul24

Abstract: This article uses a decolonising geographical approach to critique the limitations of the Eurocentric model of local government democracy in Aotearoa and Tauranga Moana. Thematic analysis of media representations of the Māori ward debate and semi-structured interviews illuminates how Māori have been marginalised from local government decision-making. First, I illustrate the way legislation, practices and processes of local government democracy, including referenda, are mechanisms that marginalise Māori and Te Ao Māori. Second, the article highlights that the establishment of Māori wards within the local government structure is the only way to ensure dedicated representation of Māori as elected members.


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How to not read like a settler: Keighlagh T. Donovan, ‘These ones will learn it too’: transforming relationships with Chelsea Vowel’s ‘kitaskînaw 2350’, Settler Colonial Studies, 2024

18Jul24

Abstract: Reading representations of relationships in Chelsea Vowel’s story ‘kitaskînaw 2350’ from the graphic anthology This Place: 150 Years Retold, I consider how portrayals of expanded relationships are a call to action – a generative lens through which settler-colonial studies may engage with anticolonial teachings. I aim to demonstrate how reading Indigenous literatures can expand and transform the settler-colonial imagination that has been taught to understand the world through a lens of exclusive ideologies like white supremacy and, broadly, the linear and the binary in relation to gender, time, and ways of being. Looking to Vowel’s story as an example, I contend that such work is of particular significance to the ongoing surge of Indigenous literary and creative production and to the dismantling of settler-colonial teachings in so-called Canada. This analysis of ‘kitaskînaw 2350’ underlines complex connections between settler-colonialism, knowledge creation, language, imagination, power, and Indigenous literatures. Joining many other scholars who are showing how Indigenous literatures generate new imaginaries that can transform colonial behaviors and systems, I read representations of Indigenous-led worlds and anticolonial teachings as an urgent call to action to heal.


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Indigenous digital sovereignty against digital settler colonialism: Sebastian Garbe, ‘Digital Mapuche activism between decolonisation and digital warfare’, Third World Quarterly, 2024

17Jul24

Abstract: The resistance of Mapuche organisations and communities against state repression and continued forms of coloniality in contemporary Chile is one of today’s most visible and active Indigenous movements in Latin America. A key factor of this increased visibility is digital Mapuche activism, in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been adopted by Mapuche organisations and communities since the late 1990s. This paper will discuss digital Mapuche activism as part of the ongoing academic debates on social and Indigenous movements and the digitalisation of their political mobilisation towards decolonisation. The paper will introduce some key players and noteworthy ­characteristics of digital Mapuche activism before discussing its contemporary developments. These include the struggle over representation, the transformation of (traditional) community roles within Mapuche society, and the language of digital Mapuche activism. The last part of the paper showcases two episodes of digital warfare against this new type of Mapuche resistance. Consequently, whilst digital Mapuche activism has become a powerful tool for decolonisation, it is increasingly contested through digital repression.


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Settler outdoor education: Stacey M. Alfonso, ‘Deconstructing Settler Colonialism in Early Childhood: North American Nature-Based Preschool Teachers’ Perceptions of Nature’, International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, 11, 2, 2024, pp. 10-25

17Jul24

Abstract: Nature-based early childhood education (NBECE) is a growing field for children aged 3-6 in North America. This growth demands the need for NBECE professionals. Often grounded in personal journey and perceptions, pedagogical practices of NBECE teachers play a vital role in learning experiences and nature-connectedness. This qualitative research delves into North American NBECE professionals’ perceptions of nature, their journey into NBECE, and their responses to the pervasive influence of settler-colonial values in education. The data was generated through teacher interviews with four outdoor preschool teachers. Each teacher participated in two interviews. Between the two interviews they wrote a journal entry. At the end of the second interview, I led each participant through a cognitive mapping exercise in which they created a visual representation of their journey with nature. Findings indicated that these teachers have a close connection and history with nature. This often translated into their feelings about NBECE. Framed within settler-colonial studies, I deconstructed teachers’ discussions to illuminate examples of resisting a nature-culture divide and human exceptionalism. I identified most teachers exhibiting awareness of settler-colonialism, with more experienced teachers thoroughly exploring their connection to its ongoing influence.


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Second-tier marriage theory (settler colonial marriage theory): Jeremiah A. Ho, ‘Second-Tier Marriages’, Saint Louis University School of Law Legal Studies Research Papers, 07/24

17Jul24

Abstract: This Essay interrogates the reasoning behind the retrenchment toward LGBTQ rights progress that has taken place since marriage equality. With marriage rights for same-sex couples now “on the books,” the Supreme Court’s treatment of same-sex couples in both Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm’n and 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis reveals the status quo’s hesitancy to recognize same-sex relationships on equal footing. Retrenchment, however, only describes the moment itself; it alludes to but offers no comprehensive or satisfying theory that identifies the motives behind the moves. This Essay theorizes from within the context of the Supreme Court’s LGBTQ rights advancement cases why such diminishment has occurred in Masterpiece and 303 Creative and what these recent decisions mean for sexual minorities. Retrenchment is not an unexpected halt to the LGBTQ rights progress of the early 2010s because of some new grievance from the status quo; rather, retrenchment is part of the ongoing establishment’s maneuverings involving group rights and identities that have always been at play in our democratic commitments—particularly as a settler colonial state. Specifically, from a historical-political perspective, this Essay anchors Masterpiece and 303 Creative within our American settler colonial experience to explain the persistence of retrenchment. From this anchoring, the Court’s motivations in 303 Creative become clearer. Ultimately, the American settler colonial experience informs the Court’s normative vision of queer people and relationships post-Obergefell. As this Essay reveals, these post-Obergefell decisions that involve same-sex couples allow the Court to normatively envision same-sex relationships after marriage equality—putting an imprimatur on same-sex relationships as second-tier to opposite-sex relationships as a way to ultimately preserve or privilege a discriminatory, heteronormative status quo.


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