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International relations naturalises settler colonialism: Maryam Khalid, Mark McMillan, Jonathan Symons, ‘Is a Pedagogy of Indigenous Solidarity Possible in the International Relations Theory Classroom?’ International Studies Perspectives, 2021

05Aug21

Abstract: How should teachers of international relations in settler-colonial states engage with First Nations’ sovereignty claims? While a growing body of recent scholarship explores how teaching might acknowledge and move beyond the discipline’s racist and colonial origins, less research investigates how pedagogy might rectify inattention to Indigenous sovereignty. This paper reports on a class activity that sought to highlight how the discipline’s foundational assumptions can naturalize Indigenous dispossession. In the class, students were asked to conduct discourse analysis of debates surrounding the “Uluru Statement from the Heart,” and to consider practices of Indigenous transnationalism. Although students generally succeeded in identifying how discursive practices consolidate the authority of the settler-colonial state, class discussion tended to reproduce the state’s justificatory narratives and to classify First Nations’ claims as akin to those of any other ethnic minority. At a time when many universities are seeking to embed more Indigenous content within curriculum, we reflect on how the activity revealed epistemic colonialism’s operation within educational settings. We argue that in addition to introducing Indigenous perspectives and knowledges, it is valuable for teaching in settler-colonial states to focus critical attention onto non-Indigenous practices that reproduce systemic injustice.


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Indigenization is about undoing trauma: E. Steinman, G. Kovats Sánchez, ‘Magnifying and healing colonial trauma in higher education: Persistent settler colonial dynamics at the Indigenizing university’, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 2021

03Aug21

Abstract: Processes of Indigenization under way in Canada aim to bring more Indigenous students and faculty to mainstream colleges and universities. These Indigenization initiatives are critical components that work toward reconciling systemic and societal inequalities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous within higher education. Despite these important efforts, institutions of higher education were founded on and continue to reflect the goals and norms of a settler colonial society, and such contexts constitute a complicated and evolving environment for Indigenous people. Based on interviews with 23 Indigenous faculty, students, staff, and community members, this paper explores their experiences at an Indigenizing university. We outline how encounters with ongoing colonialism and contradictions at an Indigenizing university both generated new pain and echoed existing historical trauma. In many ways, explicit and publicized institutional efforts to incorporate Indigenous people and perspectives, while needed and valued, simultaneously magnified the cultural dissonance, biases, and power structures within the institution. Consequently, participants identified needs for healing that were insufficiently supported and also constrained by institutional logics. This study calls attention to the settler colonial dynamics that often persist within North American colleges and universities in their efforts to target and recruit Indigenous students and how such institutions should support robust and culturally appropriate healing practices and resources that depart from default institutional understandings and operative processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)


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Transversal lives against settler colonialism? Roshon Singh Nandhra, ‘Transversing Settler Colonial Capital: Indigenous Dispossession and Non-White Labour Exploitation’, BC Studies, 210, 2021

03Aug21

Abstract: Through a concept I develop and refer to as ‘transversal modes of life’, I read through ways in which relationships of solidarity between Indigenous peoples, Black peoples, and people of colour have been adversely affected by capitalist development in Canada. Through case studies of the salmon canning and forestry industries in the early-to-mid-twentieth century in British Columbia, I contend that settler colonial relations of capital are characterized by the following three features: first, although people of colour may not choose their social positioning with Indigenous peoples in the development of the settler colonial state, this does not remove our complicity in formations that continue to dispossess Indigenous peoples from their lands and waters, but in fact complicates that relationship. Second, building on Glen Sean Coulthard’s use of Marxist theory, capitalist development within the Canadian settler colonial context produces transversal modes of life that have developed by structurally positioning Black peoples and people of colour within processes of dispossession. Third, a lens of transversality draws attention to the dynamics between Indigenous dispossession and exploitation of non-white labour, which are always and already relational. Positing relationships of co-resistance requires understanding the relational depth through which our interconnections can yield powerful resistance measures that are consistent with grounded normativity.


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Settler colonialism is heterosexual: Madi Day, ‘Remembering Lugones: The Critical Potential of Heterosexualism for Studies of So-Called Australia’, Genealogy, 5, 3, 2021

03Aug21

Abstract: Heterosexualism is inextricably tied to coloniality and modernity. This paper explores the potential of Argentinian philosopher Maria Lugones’ theorisations of heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system for sustained critical engagement with settler colonialism in so-called Australia. ‘Heterosexualism’ refers to a system of relations between settlers and Indigenous peoples characterized by racialized and gendered power dynamics. Lugones’ theory on the colonial/modern gender system unpacks the utility of social and intellectual investment in universalised categories including race, gender and sexuality. Such categories are purported to be biological, thus, prior to culture, settlers and colonial institutions. However, the culturally specific nature of knowledge produced about race, gender and sexuality reveals that the origins, and indeed the prevalence, of heterosexualism in Australia is inextricable from settler colonialism. This paper exhibits how heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system operate in service of settler colonialism, facilitating settler dominance and reproduction on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands.


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A settler colony and the British knew it: A. Higan, Britain and Zionism: Imperial-Settler Relations in the Palestine Mandate, Doctoral dissertation, University of Exeter, 2021

31Jul21

Abstract: Despite contact with the Zionist movement by some cabinet members prior to the First World War, and efforts to advocate for the movement and gain support for its goals, the British did not fully begin to come to terms with the aims, intentions, and methods of Zionism in Palestine until after the Balfour Declaration. Despite a commitment to support Zionism it was only after 1917 that a serious discussion and analysis of what the Jewish National Home would entail, how it would be achieved, and what British support meant was undertaken. In order to better explore this development, the ideas and history of Settler Colonialism in the British Empire provide a framework within which the relationships that developed in Palestine can be explored. This approach will outline the encounter between the colonial administration on the ground and the settlers, and the efforts of each to influence the imperial governments perspective and policy on settlement. In doing so it will demonstrate the ways in which the practical development of Zionism in Palestine followed a similar pattern in the British relationship with its Setter Colonies. As the British government came into greater contact with, and gained greater experience of, the attitudes and demands of the settlers on the ground, their understanding of what was being facilitated in Palestine grew. Alongside this knowledge and understanding of the settler’s intentions for Palestine, was an awareness of the means by which they would be achieved. As with other cases of settlement the position of the indigenous population, and the autonomy granted to the settlers was a point of contention between the imperial/colonial governors and the local/settler populations. Building on this developing understanding, the thesis will address the emergence of population transfer in the context of radicalisation in Settler Colonies. The British awareness of this option, raised as it was at an early point of British support for the Jewish National Home, demonstrate the initial, explicit indications of the implicit structure, and outcomes, of the Settlement project Britain was bound to facilitate. Alongside this, the concerns of the colonial and imperial governments, their resistance, as well as complicity and enablement will be assessed in the context of their discourse on the Zionist movement and its activities. Furthermore, while the British made these observations and analyses of the Zionist movement and the likely consequences of colonisation, their awareness of prior cases of settlement, and the impact these cases had on British deliberations, will be noted.


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The psychology of settler colonialism? Roberto González, Héctor Carvacho, Gloria Jiménez-Moya, ‘Psychology and Indigenous People’, Annual Review of Psychology, 2021

31Jul21

Abstract: Whether there are common features inherent to the psychology of Indigenous peoples around the globe has been the subject of much debate. We argue that Indigenous peoples share the experience of colonization and its social and psychological consequences. We develop this argument across four sections: (a) the global history of colonization and social inequalities; (b) aspects concerning identity and group processes, including the intergenerational transmission of shared values, the connection with nature, and the promotion of social change; (c) prejudice and discrimination toward Indigenous peoples and the role of psychological processes to improve relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples; and (d) the impact of historical trauma and colonialism on dimensions including cognition, mental health, and the well-being of Indigenous peoples as well as the basis for successful interventions that integrate Indigenous knowledge. Finally, we address future challenges for research on these topics.


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Institutional crossover means a (settler colonial) system: Rubini Ball, Susan Baidawi, ‘Aboriginal crossover children’s characteristics, service needs and service responses: The views of Australian key stakeholders’, Children and Youth Services Review, 2021

27Jul21

Abstract: Background: The disproportionately high number of Aboriginal crossover children traversing child protection and youth justice systems is a longstanding concern across countries with historic legacies of settler-colonialism. Aims: This study explored what key stakeholders who directly work with Aboriginal crossover children perceive are the unique characteristics and service needs of this group, and explored their views of current service system responses for Aboriginal crossover children. Methods: Twenty-five semi-structured consultations were conducted with judicial officers (magistrates and judges), police prosecutors and officers, lawyers, child protection youth justice and education professionals, child and family mental health clinicians, and representatives from non-government agencies working with crossover children in South Eastern Australia. Three out of the sample of 82 participants identified as Aboriginal. Findings: Thematic analysis revealed that key stakeholders noted substantial social disadvantage, maltreatment, and household adversity among Aboriginal crossover children, alongside systemic barriers to cultural connection and cultural identity development, and the impact of intergenerational trauma for this group. Deficient child protection responses were often strongly emphasised, however findings demonstrated considerable disagreement among key stakeholders regarding the nature of Aboriginal crossover children’s service needs, and what might constitute effective responses to these. This study highlights the need for a common understanding and frameworks among service providers working collaboratively to support Aboriginal crossover children.


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Settler colonialism compromises Indigenous health (provision): Luke Heidebrecht, Subhashini Iyer, sandy Leo Laframboise, Claudia Madampage, Alexandra King, ‘”Every One of Us Is a Strand in That Basket”: Weaving Together Stories of Indigenous Wellness and Resilience From the Perspective of Those With Lived and Living Experience With HIV/Hepatitis C Virus’, Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 2021

27Jul21

Abstract: This article primarily focuses on the stories shared by Indigenous women with living and/or lived experiences of HIV/hepatitis C virus from the Vancouver Downtown East Side who attended the “Awakening our Wisdom” retreat. Weaving together the story of an Indigenous approach to research that informed the design of the retreat and the findings that emerged, a basket is formed that highlights the ways settler-colonialism within Canada has produced a system of health care that has neglected the Indigenous experience. The emerging themes of Connection, Disconnection, and Reconnection offers teachings for Indigenous journeys of resilience and wellness for those living with HIV/hepatitis C virus. These findings may help health care practitioners identify health care places and spaces that are in need of decolonization and offer, from an Indigenous perspective, the next steps forward for a health care system that promotes Indigenous engagement and retention in care.


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Settler colonialism against reproductive health: Genevieve R. Cox, Mike Anastario, Paula FireMoon, Adriann Ricker, Elizabeth Rink, ‘Narrative frames as choice over structure of American Indian sexual and reproductive health consequences of historical trauma’, Sociology of Health & Illness, 2021

27Jul21

Abstract: Emerging evidence suggests that the historical trauma associated with settler colonialism affects the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of American Indian (AI) communities today. This article examines how one AI community narratively frames the influence of historical trauma within the context of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and the implications of this framing for health behaviours, internalized oppression, SRH outcomes, and future CBPR interventions. We found that AIs framed the SRH consequences of historical trauma with renderings that favoured personal choice over structural explanations. Our findings suggest future interventions could: (1) include educational components on historical trauma and the continued role settler colonialism plays in structural violence against AI bodies and communities; and (2) recognize the role that the individualized logic of westernized/white culture may play in the erasure of traditional collectivist AI culture, internalized oppression, and SRH.


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Settlers teaching history: James Miles, ‘Redressing Historical Wrongs or Replicating Settler Colonialism? Social Studies Curriculum Reform in Canada’, in Matilda Keynes, Henrik Åström Elmersjö, Daniel Lindmark, Björn Norlin (eds), Historical Justice and History Education, Springer, 2021, pp 249-267

27Jul21

Abstract: This chapter examines recent curriculum reforms in Canada that emphasize historical injustice and reconciliation. Miles relies on concepts from critical Indigenous scholarship and settler colonial studies to examine how settler colonial discourses have been replicated in a revised social studies curriculum in the province of British Columbia. Through an analysis of curriculum documents and interviews with six curriculum writers, Miles explores the ways in which historical injustice and redress mechanisms have been envisioned in the curriculum and the potential consequences for teachers and students. Miles argues that British Columbia’s new social studies curriculum frames colonial injustice as a discrete event that can be isolated from larger processes and structures of settler colonialism.


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