settler colonial studies blog

Indigenous-immigrant activism: Yukiko Tanaka, “Indigenizing Settlement”: Investigating the Possibilities and limitations of Indigenous-Immigrant Solidarity through Immigrant Settlement Organizations, PhD dissertation, University of Toronto, 2023

19Nov23

Abstract: This dissertation investigates the possibilities and limitations of solidarity between immigrant and Indigenous communities when mediated through the immigrant settlement sector. I conducted participant observation, interviews, and sharing circles in a program I call the Indigenous-Newcomer Training Program (INTP), which brings together Indigenous and immigrant youth in employment seeking, along with interviews and document analysis in the broader immigrant serving sector in Saskatoon, SK, Canada. In my first empirical chapter, I find that contrary to previous literature on immigrant-Indigenous relations, the sector is deeply invested in acknowledging the First Peoples of the land and resisting anti-Indigenous racism among immigrants. While these organizations are taking steps toward building relationships with Indigenous communities, they also face limitations in terms of funding, overburdening Indigenous colleagues, and maintaining Western ways of knowing. My second empirical chapter investigates the ways INTP’s employment programming demonstrates alternatives to neoliberalism and settler colonialism by drawing on Indigenous ways of knowing. I argue that INTP resists the neoliberal self-reliance that other state-funded programs attempt to inculcate in immigrant and Indigenous job seekers by focusing on healing at individual and community levels instead of individual skill development. Yet, because of the constraints presented by INTP’s reliance on state funding, the extent to which they can resist is limited. In my final empirical chapter, I turn to the ways Indigenous and immigrant youth come to (re-)interpret each other through the frames provided by INTP. I find that when immigrants compare settler colonialism in Canada to the colonialisms their home countries went through, rather than building solidarity, these comparisons reveal resentment of Indigenous people. I argue that rather than using colonial comparison to absolve themselves of settler complicity, immigrants make these comparisons to become settlers themselves. Overall, this dissertation argues for analysis in migration studies that keeps settler colonialism in view and takes Indigenous solidarity as an imperative. By conceptualizing the empirical case of INTP as an opportunity to reconstruct theory on settlement agencies and immigrant-Indigenous relations, my study brings the literature up to speed with this reality on the ground, and offers an empirical case study in a largely theoretical field.

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Indigenous transnational activism: Razan Samara, Exploring Narratives of Solidarity Between Palestinian and Indigenous Activists on Turtle Island, MA dissertation, University of Toronto, 2023

19Nov23

Abstract: Palestinian and Indigenous anti-colonial movements have long understood that their struggles are inextricably linked. At the same time as Indigenous peoples are re-writing and rerighting history, there has been an increased interest in scholarly contributions that have made a compelling case for anti-colonial and anti-capitalist Indigenous resurgence and liberation rooted in transnational solidarity. Expanding upon this work in the fields of Indigenous and Palestine/ian Studies, this study engages grey literature materials to consider how Palestinian and Indigenous activists on Turtle Island (North America) define, build, and enact solidarity with one another. This analysis maps narratives of relationship building to contribute to a claiming back of our shared histories, and further our understanding of how Palestinian and Indigenous activists can deepen relations and imagine collective liberatory futures.

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Settler colonialism’s nonsense chronotope: Shirley Bricout, ‘Making (Non)Sense of the Sea, Sand and Self in The Boy in the Bush by D.H. Lawrence and M.L. Skinner’, Études Lawrenciennes, 2023

18Nov23

Excerpt: To the Australian characters, the sea is a constant reminder of their interaction with the British Isles and the legacy of the Swan River colony established in 1829. The sea itself is “empty” (BB 24, 44); it is measured in the number of weeks the crossing takes (six) and Britain is still called “Home” (BB 34, 392). This imperial common history is very vivid in the memories of the locals when Jack arrives, since they have just celebrated the half-centenary of the settlement on the Swan River. Mollie Skinner recalls in her memoirs how Lawrence had encouraged her not to write about the settlers in the earlier colony but “from the time when [she] became aware of what went on in this empty country” (114).

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Settler colonialism targets social reproduction: Elliot Goodell Ugalde, ‘Unveiling the Veiled Narratives: Settler-Colonialism, Matrilineality, and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls along the Highway of Tears’, Canadian Journal for the Academic Mind, 2023

18Nov23

Abstract: Critical Indigenous scholars have extensively examined the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women/Girls (MMIWG) along the Highway of Tears (HoT) in British Columbia and have linked the phenomena to varying underlying colonial structures. However, these analyses often overlook the central role of settler-colonialism in imposing patriarchal ontologies, which perpetuate ongoing Indigenous femicide. To address this theoretical oversight, this document adopts Linda Smith’s framework of ‘gendering’ as a means of decolonial praxis to incorporate feminist social reproduction theory into the discourse of Critical Indigenous scholars’ commentary on MMIWG. The aim is to shed light on how the problem of MMIWG is rooted in the imposition of colonial, patriarchal ontologies that disrupt matriarchal social reproduction along the HoT. Furthermore, this document argues that a critical examination of how settler-colonialism disrupts matrilineal social reproduction should occupy a more central position within postcolonial discourses focused on addressing MMIWG along the HoT as per considering the higher matrilineal governance of nations along the HoT. Ultimately, this document argues that a more comprehensive understanding of settler-colonialism’s impact on displacing Indigenous matrilineal social reproduction should be given greater emphasis when discussing the causal factors surrounding MMIWG along the HoT. By addressing the theoretical oversights and incorporating a gendered analysis within a decolonial framework, the paper aims to advocate for more effective approaches to address the issue.

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Settler water ecologies: Sophia Borgias, ‘Drought, Settler Law, and the Los Angeles Aqueduct: The Shifting Political Ecology of Water Scarcity in California’s Eastern Sierra’, Journal of Political Ecology, 2023

18Nov23

Abstract: This article examines how drought intersects with long-standing issues of ecological degradation and social inequity caused by water extraction. I focus on the case of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and its ongoing impacts on the communities and ecosystems in the Owens and Mono basins in the Eastern Sierra region of California. Drawing on ethnographic and policy research, I show how environmental law addressed some of these impacts but reinforced others, perpetuating a settler colonial approach to water management that marginalizes Indigenous communities and naturalizes a level of environmental degradation. Drought has further exacerbated and obscured these issues of degradation and inequity, as Los Angeles has increasingly contested its environmental mitigation obligations and doubled down on the extractive approach that resulted in the need for mitigation in the first place. This research builds upon insights from political ecology and critical legal studies, underscoring how drought exacerbates existing water scarcity but also obscures the role of settler colonial legal frameworks and extractive practices in producing it.

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The memorial life of a settler community: Susan Slyomovics, ‘A Settler Colonial Memorial Book: The Agricultural School and Museum of Sidi-Bel-Abbès, Algeria’, Diaspora, 23, 2, 2023, pp. 241-260

18Nov23

Abstract: In French colonial Algeria (1830–1962), a European settler community was made from both displacement and the encounter with Indigenous Algerian collectives. After Algeria’s independence from France in 1962, this community was remade by a second displacement and the encounter in France with the metropolitan community. Known as Pieds-Noirs, this community has organized associative life, books, and newsletter publications, and sometimes return visits to Algeria. This article looks at Pieds-Noir settler associations devoted to Algeria’s colonial agricultural schools, model farms, and nurseries, and how they reconstitute metropole-colony and colony-metropole through memory and a memorial book. This case study of the agricultural school in the town of Sidi-Bel-Abbès, former headquarters of the French Foreign Legion, discusses post-independent Algerian responses to return visits, claims, and writings by settlers.

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The Settler Accords: Nadim Khoury, ‘Settler colonialism, memory politics, and the Trump–Netanyahu deal’, International Politics, 2023

14Nov23

Abstract: Azmi Bishara’s Palestine: Matters of Truth and Justice is essential reading for understanding Palestine today. Initially, the book was supposed to be an English translation of a lecture on what Bishara calls the Trump–Netanyahu deal. Fortunately for the English reader, the lecture is now upgraded with eight chapters that build on decades of Bishara’s political and intellectual engagement with the question of Palestine. These chapters contextualize Trump’s so-called “deal of the century” within the longer history of the region and its geopolitical transformations. The task is ambitious but wonderfully executed. One leaves the book with a deeper understanding of contemporary developments, informed by the weight of history, and with a vision for justice in Palestine/Israel. Addressing all these dimensions in one symposium, let alone one contribution, is impossible. I will therefore focus on a specific topic that runs through the book, namely, the politics of memory in Palestine/Israel. In his introduction, Bishara notes that the book’s different themes will be discussed in conjunction “with the questions of memory and forgetting” (p. 9). Below I will discuss four of these themes: the theoretical framework of settler colonialism, Bishara’s analysis of the Trump–Netanyahu deal, Palestinian resistance to the deal, and Bishara’s vision of justice in Palestine/Israel.

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When settlers buy land: Kristen Alff, ‘Changing Capitalist Structures and Settler-Colonial Land Purchases in Northern Palestine, 1897–1922’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2023

14Nov23

Abstract: By tracing Zionist and German Templer efforts to buy arable private property in Palestine between 1897 and 1922, I show the ways in which the changing balance of Ottoman and Levantine forces over land and labor—as well as political and economic institutions and social structures—facilitated settler-colonialism in northern Palestine. In this article, I examine official records of the Ottoman state, Jewish organizations, and Levantine, Jewish, and Templer real estate papers. I argue that changing capitalist practices in northern Palestine, driven especially by interactions of Beirut-based companies with the changing global capitalist market, facilitated settler-colonialism in the region. Specifically, Ottoman state-sponsored violence during World War I increased peasant dispossessions in the fertile region of northern Palestine, already in progress since at least the mid-19th century, making settler colonies possible.

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Settler colonialism in Kashmir: Mehmood Hussain, ‘From Abrogation to Dominion: Navigating India’s Neo-Colonial Settler Agenda in Kashmir and Elimination of Kashmiri Identity’, Muslim World Journal of Human Rights, 2023

14Nov23

Abstract: This paper examines the neo-colonial project of Narendra Modi implemented in Kashmir after the revocation of special status on August 5, 2019. The neo-colonial infrastructure supported by the threads of re-classification of legal residents and land designations intends to significantly transform the demography of Muslim majority Kashmir into a Muslim minority, consequently destroying the Muslim identity of the state. The abrogation of Article 370 and enactment of new domicile law has extended the legal and administrative control of New Delhi, making Kashmir indistinguishable from the Indian legal system and leaving no room for the local legislative assembly to make laws beneficial for the state residents. The paper asks how India is implementing the neo-colonial settler agenda in Kashmir. How and to what extent legal and military instruments are employed to disempower Kashmiris from territorial and cultural identity? The paper argues that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pursuing a neo-colonial settler agenda in Kashmir through ‘destroy and replace,’ which is supported by the neo-liberal agenda, including; new land management policy, new domicile law, spatial planning and development, new settlements of Hindus, authoritative central control, and massive militarization to carry out gross human rights abuses and repression.

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Settler cannibalism: Olivia E. Murphy, ‘Truthiness, Alternative Facts, and Ersatz Truths: Andrea Carlson’s Exploration of Settler Cultural Cannibalism’, Ethnic Studies Review, 46, 3, 2023, pp. 48-72

12Nov23

Abstract: In this paper, Truthiness, a mixed-media artwork by contemporary artist Andrea Carlson (Grand Portage Ojibwe), is utilized as a case study to illustrate the contexts for Carlson’s repeated artistic engagement with “cultural cannibalism.” Specifically, in Truthiness, from Carlson’s Windigo Series, the artist confronts settler colonizers’ historical labeling of Native Americans as “cannibals” and their own past and ongoing cultural cannibalization in the United States. As Carlson notes, this consumption ranges from opportunistic museum acquisitions to the roles of settlers in the 1862 Dakota Uprising. To analyze Carlson’s work, an iconographical and semiotics approach centered around the concept of symbolic anthropophagy is taken; as her utilization of many layered references demonstrates, Carlson herself engages in a form of cultural cannibalism through her appropriation and use of readily identifiable symbols and artworks in her work. As a whole, this paper aims to emphasize how, in Truthiness, Carlson flips visually the historical narrative that labeled Indigenous peoples as cannibals to label settler colonizers as windigos, insatiable monsters who consume without consequence.

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