settler colonial studies blog

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Environmentalism as settler colonialism: George Zachariah, ‘Unsettling Environmentalism: Decolonial Musings, International Review of Mission, 113, 1, 2024, pp. 23-38

04Jun24

Abstract: Decolonial ecological imaginations entail a critical interrogation of mainstream environmentalism to unmask and unsettle it. These reflections expose how mainstream environmentalism legitimizes and perpetuates the colonization of the Earth and subaltern and Indigenous communities. Mainstream environmentalism is a colonial project to perpetuate the interests of settler colonialism and racial capitalism. This calls for a new search for decolonial and alternative ecological reimagination, informed by the epistemologies and eco-politics of the Indigenous and subaltern communities and other grassroots social movements. Decolonial ecological imaginations involve the task of contesting and unsettling settler colonialism, extractive/exploitative capitalism, white supremacy, and all ideologies and practices of domination and exclusion.

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Systems change against settler colonialism? Tom Johnson, Tanya Allport, Amohia Boulton, ‘Te Ruru: Co-creating an Indigenous Systems Change Framework’, Journal of Awareness-Base Systems Change, 4, 1, 2024, pp. 49-75

04Jun24

Abstract: Indigenous cultures have long-held perspectives that emphasise the interdependence of all living things as holistic systems. Our worldview is thus shaped by deeply embedded relationality, which is in constant response to our interconnected experiences and knowledges. Systems thinking is a way of looking at the world that recognises the interconnectedness of both natural and humanmade systems. The systems change approach, which takes into account the interconnected nature of the world’s economic, social, and ecological systems, finds common ground with an inclusive, connected Indigenous holistic world view. This article explores the congruence and compatibility between systems change thinking and Indigenous frameworks, emphasizing their common ground. The article introduces an example from Aotearoa New Zealand, which has integrated the tenets of systems change methodology within tribally based principles and aspirations to create ‘Te Ruru”. Te Ruru, an Indigenous framework of systems change, has been designed by a tribally owned Māori (Indigenous peoples of New Zealand) health research centre to investigate the overarching system(s) that perpetuate inequity of Māori health outcomes. Te Ruru is depicted in three parts: the first part, or micro lens; the second part, the macro lens; and part three, the meso lens. The first part of the framework prioritizes Indigenous identities and values. In part two, Te Ruru’s beak, eyes, and wings symbolize the translation of research findings, strategic oversight, and the ability to navigate systems change. The third part of the framework illustrates the goal of new mātauranga and the need to address internal barriers and traumas, emphasizing the necessity for healing and restoration to sustain long-term systems change. A case study of how Te Ruru has been used in conjunction with a research methodology (TUI) is also included. Te Ruru has been purposefully adapted from a specific tribe’s knowledge and iterated to represent not just the visible system(s) that Māori communities occupy, but also the ‘unseen’ within Indigenous and colonial histories. Using systems change from an intentional Indigenous paradigm is thereby an act of decolonisation—a direct act against the systems currently blocking Indigenous flourishing. Te Ruru’s transformational power lies in its ability to bring to the surface the seen and unseen, and thereby support Māori to take the helm to lead systemic change via the Indigenous translation of inclusive health research.

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If the agricultural sector does not follow the logic of elimination, but elimination happens elsewhere or later, it’s still settler colonialism: Matan Kaminer, ‘”No foreign workers, no agriculture, no region”: Thai farmworkers in Israel in the wake of war’, Global Labour Journal, 15, 2, 2024, pp. 126-129

04Jun24

Excerpt: There is perhaps no more paradigmatically settler-colonial activity than agriculture, especially in the Palestinian/Israeli context. Zionist strategists perceived the takeover of farmland from indigenous cultivators as a primary goal of their colonising project, pursuing it eagerly through purchase until the war of 1948, and primarily through violence since then. More than an economic sector, agriculture has served a strategic role in consolidating control over broad stretches of frontier, as well as the ideological purpose of emblematising the Jewish people’s return to its land. However, pace the emergent orthodoxy in settler-colonial studies – which has recently been subjected to strident critiques, not least in the Palestinian/Israeli context – Israeli agriculture has not, for the most part, been characterised by an “eliminationist” attitude towards indigenous labour or by a serious commitment to exclusively employing the labour of settlers. In fact, Israeli agriculture, like other low-wage sectors of the economy, has nearly always depended on Palestinian labour. When the First Intifada of 1987 to 1991 convinced Israeli policymakers that this dependency was dangerous, their response was to replace it not with the more expensive labour of Israeli citizens, but with the similarly cheap and skilled labour of migrant workers. The farm sector would quickly come to recruit the bulk of its workforce from Thailand, while continuing to employ thousands of Palestinians.

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Settler foodways: Rodolfo Alvarez, Aubrey Hernandez, ‘Exploring Texas German Foodways’, Migrant Knowledge, 16/05/24

03Jun24

Excerpt: Modern America is a land of rich diversity, especially regarding food. Americans with strong ethnic identity take pride in their ethnic cuisine. The diversity of U.S. food is reflected both in the household and the expansive restaurant industry. However, early Texas German settlers entered a world very different from our own. These settlers found themselves on the frontier, far from the domesticated urban centers of the East Coast and Europe. As Texas Germans adapted to their new home, they had to change their eating habits, creating new foods and adjusting old recipes, ultimately, also impacting modern American foodways.

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A settler’s paradise: Robert Aquinas McNally, Cast Out of Eden: The Untold Story of John Muir, Indigenous Peoples, and the American Wilderness, University of Nebraska Press, 2024

03Jun24

Description: John Muir is widely and rightly lauded as the nature mystic who added wilderness to the United States’ vision of itself, largely through the system of national parks and wild areas his writings and public advocacy helped create. That vision, however, came at a cost: the conquest and dispossession of the tribal peoples who had inhabited and managed those same lands, in many cases for millennia. Muir argued for the preservation of wild sanctuaries that would offer spiritual enlightenment to the conquerors, not to the conquered Indigenous peoples who had once lived there. ‘Somehow’, he wrote, ‘they seemed to have no right place in the landscape’.

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