settler colonial studies blog

Settler soil: Melissa M Arcand, ‘miyo wîcêhtowin “good relations”: reckoning with the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and soil science in Canada’, Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 2024

08Jun24

Abstract: I offer this perspective as hope that miyo wîcêhtowin (translated as “good relations” in Plains Cree) can be established between the discipline of soil science and Indigenous Peoples in Canada. This perspective reflects on the difficult truths of why the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and soil science is primarily one of exploitation and neglect, but also on how fostering a relationship built on reciprocity poses opportunities for Indigenous knowledge systems and soil science to improve land and soil stewardship. Soil science was borne in this country as an instrument of colonization of the plains, marginalizing First Nations from their lands and livelihoods through agricultural settlement. It is necessary to illuminate this fraught history to understand the contemporary realities of First Nations in the prairies, including the hopeful efforts First Nations are making towards conservation and restoration of prairie landscapes—and revitalization of Indigenous knowledge systems—especially though buffalo rematriation. This sharing is done in the hope that we can collectively work towards reciprocity in the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and soil science as a discipline for improved caretaking of the land.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

A settler colonial city: Michael Thornton, ‘Toward a Japanese paradigm of settler-colonial urbanism?’ Urban History, 2024

08Jun24

Abstract: The city of Sapporo, founded in 1869 by the Japanese government as a colonial headquarters in Hokkaido, developed as part of a global wave of settler-colonial urbanism. Like counterparts in North America and Australia, Sapporo facilitated economic, environmental and political transformations across Hokkaido that led to the displacement of Indigenous Ainu society by a soon overwhelming number of ethnically Japanese settlers. However, several historical factors distinguish Sapporo’s settler-colonial urbanism from its peers, including the long history of relations between the Ainu and Japanese; the heavy role of the Japanese state in Sapporo; and the lack of mass relocations of the Ainu to reservations far from their traditional homes.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

The middle (west) of settler colonialism: David A. Nichols, ‘Exiles in the Old Northwest: How Northern Trans-Appalachia Became Midwestern’, Indiana Magazine of History

08Jun24

Abstract: Frederick Jackson Turner, premier historian of the frontier and American exceptionalism, wondered late in his career how sectional identities had formed in the United States. Out of all the American sections, the Midwest seemed to have no distinct character, serving instead as a miniature model of the entire nation. Turner’s professional descendants in the Midwestern History Association have interrogated the region’s typicality, noting that it became in the twentieth century a generator of progressive reform movements and a new homeland for diverse groups. Looking back at the region’s eighteenth- and nineteenth-century past, particularly within the conceptual framework of Indiana University Press’s Trans-Appalachian Frontier series (1996–2018), lets historians determine when the Midwest separated from its parent region, the “old” West, which included the Deep South. The territories between the Appalachians and the Missouri River initially shared many features: a large and adaptive Native American population, a commitment among white settlers to commercial agriculture and land speculation, and attractiveness to utopian experimenters. The Midwest separated from this larger region after 1865, when formerly enslaved Black people moved to the midwestern states from the white-supremacist South, immigrants reshaped the social landscape of midwestern cities, and regional authors and artists began constructing a midwestern stereotype in order to critique and demystify it.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Ambivalent liberation (from settler colonialism): Tariq Dana, ‘A postcolonial moment or colonial subcontractor?’ International Politics, 2024

08Jun24

Excerpt: Colonial and settler-colonial studies broadly agree that colonialism, anti-colonialism, decolonization and postcolonialism form a path-dependent chain. However, can the conditions of anti-colonialism and postcolonialism coexist in an ongoing context of settler-colonialism? Somdeep Sen answers this puzzling question by interrogating the nature of Hamas’ presence in Gaza. He concludes that while Hamas is a militant movement engaged in anti-colonial struggle, it has also built governance structures and institutions, resembling postcolonial statecraft. Nevertheless, for Sen, it is not either/or: he cautiously frames the coexistence between anticolonialism and postcolonialism within the long and complex path toward liberation.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Messed up (a settler colonial moment): Matthew Kruer, Time of Anarchy: Indigenous Power and the Crisis of Colonialism in Early America, Harvard University Press, 2022

08Jun24

Description: A gripping account of the violence and turmoil that engulfed England’s fledgling colonies and the crucial role played by Native Americans in determining the future of North America. In 1675, eastern North America descended into chaos. Virginia exploded into civil war, as rebel colonists decried the corruption of planter oligarchs and massacred allied Indians. Maryland colonists, gripped by fears that Catholics were conspiring with enemy Indians, rose up against their rulers. Separatist movements and ethnic riots swept through New York and New Jersey. Dissidents in northern Carolina launched a revolution, proclaiming themselves independent of any authority but their own. English America teetered on the edge of anarchy. Though seemingly distinct, these conflicts were in fact connected through the Susquehannock Indians, a once-mighty nation reduced to a small remnant. Forced to scatter by colonial militia, Susquehannock bands called upon connections with Indigenous nations from the Great Lakes to the Deep South, mobilizing sources of power that colonists could barely perceive, much less understand. Although the Susquehannock nation seemed weak and divided, it exercised influence wildly disproportionate to its size, often tipping settler societies into chaos. Colonial anarchy was intertwined with Indigenous power. Piecing together Susquehannock strategies from a wide range of archival documents and material evidence, Matthew Kruer shows how one people’s struggle for survival and renewal changed the shape of eastern North America. Susquehannock actions rocked the foundations of the fledging English territories, forcing colonial societies and governments to respond. Time of Anarchy recasts our understanding of the late seventeenth century and places Indigenous power at the heart of the story.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Settler colonise Mars (settlerophilia as biophilia): Aditi Anil Hadkar, Habitat on Mars, MA dissertation, Victoria Tech, 2024

06Jun24

Abstract: The information contained in this thesis explores ways to develop a habitat for human settlement on Mars. Currently, most designs for living on Mars focus primarily on survival and emphasize the technological aspects necessary for sustaining life. However, there is a lack of holistic consideration for what life on Mars would entail beyond mere survival. These existing designs are understandably geared towards astronauts who will spend only a few months on Mars. In contrast, this project is dedicated to envisioning the future of Mars settlement, aiming to support astronauts who intend to permanently live and establish communities on Mars, ultimately transforming them into Martians. The project adopts a human-centric approach by integrating biophilic design principles to enhance the well-being of future Martian inhabitants. It seeks to address potential psychological challenges that settlers on Mars may encounter, offering innovative solutions rooted in biophilia. This approach aims to create environments that foster connection with nature, promote mental health, and support overall quality of life for individuals living on Mars. Humans have evolved over millions of years to thrive on Earth, and many of our primal instincts are deeply rooted in our hunter-gatherer ancestry. Transitioning humans to live on another planet would uproot them from their natural environment, potentially depriving them of these primal instincts and causing psychological challenges. (Szocik, n.d.) This project aims to address these issues through architectural solutions. By designing habitats that consider and accommodate our innate instincts and connections to nature, we can mitigate the psychological impacts of living on a different planet. The goal is to create environments on Mars that resonate with our evolutionary heritage, fostering psychological well-being and adaptation in extra-terrestrial settlements.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Imprisoned indigeneity on imprisoned land: Emma K. Russell, ‘Prison expansion in the plains grasslands: Coloniality, ecological injustice and carceral sprawl’, Political Geography, 113, 2024

04Jun24

Abstract: This article examines the politics of prison siting on contaminated land within an endangered ecosystem in Australia, contributing to the literature on carceral geography and the burgeoning field of abolition ecology. I argue that prisons materialise in the landscape through processes of dispossession, environmental degradation and value extraction that enclose Indigenous lands for caging populations cast as ‘surplus’ to settler racial capitalism. The primary focus is the interface between prisons and the Victorian Volcanic Plain grasslands at a site called Ravenhall, a former military testing site that has been remade as a ‘prisons precinct’ and native grasslands reserve on Bunurong country in the outer Western suburbs of Melbourne. I investigate the history, ecology and political economy of prison-building at this site, unearthing the assemblage of living and nonliving entities involved in the construction of carceral geographies, and the meaning-making that guides planning and conservation processes. Rather than simply protecting and enhancing the biodiversity of the plains grasslands, neoliberal conservation practices at Ravenhall facilitate carceral development by generating more visible and ‘substitutable’ natures to gloss over the socially and ecologically toxic realities of prisons. The analysis reinforces the role that carceral geographies play in reproducing structured racial-environmental vulnerabilities and the importance of challenging sprawling prison developments as part of decolonial, abolitionist and ecological justice struggles.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Electric vehicles and Indigenous dispossession (now, again): Christopher Orjuela, ‘Electric Vehicles at the Expense of Communities: Lithium Mining and the Deprivation of Argentinian Indigenous Peoples’ Rights’, Brooklyn Journal of International Law, 49, 2, 2024

04Jun24

Abstract: Lithium has become a valuable commodity and resource globally. The metal’s power generating and storing qualities have directly contributed to the development of the lithium-ion battery, which is primarily used in electric vehicles. As the demand for electric vehicles continuously grows, electric vehicle manufacturers require substantially larger quantities of lithium to ensure their supply meets demand. Thus, manufacturers rely on lithium mining companies to establish mining operations in lithium dense areas and extract tremendous amounts of the element. One country where an abundance of lithium can be found is Argentina. Known as one of the countries comprising the “lithium triangle,” Argentina’s salt flats are rich in lithium, making it a highly desirable location for lithium mining companies to commence operations. Jujuy, Argentina, is specifically known for its lithium supply, as the Salinas Grandes region in Jujuy composes greater than one-third of the country’s total lithium reserves. With mining companies initiating or planning lithium mining operations in Jujuy, there is great concern for the Indigenous communities living in the region. The Salinas Grandes is home to thousands of Indigenous peoples who depend on the region’s lands and resources to support their habitability and livelihoods. Lithium mining threatens these lands and resources, however, due to the resource scarcity, and water and soil contamination associated with lithium mining. The Jujuy Indigenous communities have attempted to alleviate the damage of lithium mining through soliciting aid from the Argentinian Government, but the Government has wholly failed to acknowledge the harm imposed upon these communities. Instead, the Government has silenced, undermined, and disregarded the Jujuy Indigenous communities, demonstrating that the Government is only interested in benefiting and profiting from the emergence of lithium mining. The Government has significant obligations, pursuant to the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention and United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to respect and uphold the land and resource rights of the Jujuy Indigenous communities. These rights require the Government to afford the Jujuy Indigenous peoples consultation and participation rights with regards to lithium mining reforms, contracts, and regulations. The Government, nevertheless, has not implemented adequate procedures to preserve these rights, demonstrating that the Government is infringing upon the Jujuy Indigenous communities’ internationally recognized rights. This Note argues that the Argentinian Government has substantially breached its obligations under international law, mandating the Government to amend its lithium mining reforms to mitigate any further violation of the Jujuy Indigenous communities’ rights.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Settler citizenship is gendered: Yasmeen Abu-Laban, ‘Contested Citizenship in a Settler Colony: Lessons from Canada/Turtle Island’, in Birte Siim, Pauline Stoltz (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of Gender and Citizenship, Palgrave, 2024, pp. 341-359

04Jun24

Abstract: Canada is a well understood example of a settler colony. This perspective on the country finds resonance in extant feminist and intersectional scholarship, as well in the work of Indigenous scholars and others in the burgeoning field of settler colonial studies. In tracing the evolution of Canadian citizenship from the foundation of the modern Canadian state in 1867 to the present, and in centring Canada as a settler colony, the chapter illuminates the specific contestations as well as contradictions inherent in Canadian citizenship that make it gendered as well as a site of ongoing struggle. The broad relevance of the case of Canada lies in illuminating considerations of solidarity, as well as in what Leanne Simpson has called co-resistance, in settler colonies.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

The settler geopolitics of Indigenous recognition (in Taiwan): Yee-Chin Teo, ‘A negotiated sovereignty: Surfacing Indigenous geopolitics within settler colonialism’, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 2024

04Jun24

Abstract: This paper examines Indigeneity within the less-explored settler colonial context of Taiwan in the face of China’s increasing irredentism. I review two processes of Indigenous reconciliation developing in Taiwan and frame them as Indigenous geopolitics – the survey and legislation of traditional territory and the instrumentalization of Indigeneity to assert the island’s autonomy from China. I highlight that Indigenous political struggles that have otherwise often been contained within a stable conception of the settler nation-state can have outward facing effects and suggest that Indigenous rights won can be seen within a spectrum of Indigenous sovereignty in varying degrees, from mere recognition in history books to the extent of making representations to other states. Noting the highly visible process of reconciliation that has thus far yielded limited legislative outcomes in Taiwan, I propose that Indigenous geopolitics should not be considered independent of or in opposition to the settler state. Rather, Indigenous representatives necessarily negotiate their politics within the framework of the settler state in an unequal relationship that nonetheless hold benefits for both sides.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

what’s new

contribute