settler colonial studies blog

Settler colonial Taiwan: Shu-Mei Huang, ‘Here we are together: unpacking Indigenous Historical Justice and heritage as essentially embedded in colonial institutions in Taiwan’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 31, 2025, pp. 611-631

22Jul25

Abstract: In Taiwan, arguably a settler colonial state, “colonial heritage” is a loaded concept that requires unpacking. While the Han-oriented mainstream society generally assumes “colonial heritage” to be culture heritage associated with the Japanese colonial period or earlier, the Dutch period in the 17th century, the Indigenous People of Taiwan has experienced multiple colonializations that go beyond the two, not to mention that even the notion “heritage” itself is constituent of and resulting from the colonializing process. Among others, war memorials built by the Japanese regime and the heritagization of them in the postcolonial years, are particularly difficult subject matters and a key to the greater entangled memory of Taiwan. This research examines the recent interrogation into the particular war memorials in the context of the state-led effort of Indigenous Historic Justice and Transitional Justice in Taiwan from 2016 onwards. It explores how the contested colonial heritage of war has simultaneously enabled multiculturalism for national rebranding and, regrettably, prevents a critical reflection on settler colonialism in Taiwan. Working with Indigenous communities, however, the researcher also observed the ways in which the communities themselves actively engage with heritage making in their own agenda to search for opportunities for collective actions over and beyond memory politics, including but not limited to trans-ethnic, transnational dialogues over history rewriting and territory remapping.

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Reconciliation in heterotopias, as elsewhere seems impossible: Lia Kenta, Geoffrey Langford, ‘Possibilities for reconciliation in heterotopic spaces of Australian frontier massacre’, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 31, 5, 2025, pp. 632-650

22Jul25

Abstract: There is an emerging narrative of Australian frontier massacre places as sites where truth-telling about past injustices might foster reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Yet this narrative obscures a more complex story of the ongoing violence of settler-colonialism. This article focuses on the Minnamurra River massacre place in New South Wales, where ongoing sand mining by the Boral construction company is actively destroying Indigenous lands. We ask: where do possibilities for healing and reconciliation lie in this place? We draw on Foucault’s concept of heterotopia to explore Minnamurra as a complex landscape of multiple, dynamic social spaces, examining the different forms of power that infuse and circulate in these spaces and searching for the seeds of reconciliation in the emergent relationships between Aboriginal survivor-descendants and environmentalists. This case study invites more complex and less western-centric understandings of what reconciliation might mean in the context of Australian frontier violence.

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Do settlers always stay? Sheyda Aisha Khaymaz, ‘On permanency: rethinking settler colonialism in Algiers or Fanon’s lieu en ébullition’, Settler Colonial Studies, 2025

22Jul25

Abstract: This paper explores the potential offered by deploying a settler colonial critique in Algeria. Issues around sovereignty constitute its central topic, as I consider the following questions: What did sovereignty mean for Algerian Arab and Kabyle communities subsequent to independence? How has colonial urban design historically shaped – and continued to shape – power relations? Under the theoretical umbrella of Frantz Fanon’s lieu en ébullition (boiling place), this paper analyses the mechanisms by which Algiers had become bifurcated by the 1950s and how urban architecture served not only as a tool that reified antagonistic colonial power relations, but also as a site where demands of sovereignty took tangible form. I consider the notion of permanency, both that of colonialism and urban architecture, to elucidate the role of the built environment in instituting an antithetical order of coloniser versus colonised. Following the scholarship on the built environment of colonial Algeria that has grown in recent decades, this work demonstrates that the seeds of alterity sown by the French architectural and urban practices persisted beyond independence, embedding spatial hierarchies that continue to shape lopsided power relations well into the twenty-first century.

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Indigenous doctorates in settler colonialism: Emma Lea Allen, Settler Aggressions: Indigenous Doctoral Student Experiences With Settler Colonialism in Higher Education, PhD dissertation, University of Oklahoma, 2025

22Jul25

Abstract: Indigenous students pursuing doctoral education often navigate environments shaped by the historical and on-going settler colonial structure of the United States. This study aimed to examine the lived experiences of Indigenous doctoral students with microaggressions at NonNative Colleges and Universities (NNCUs), with attention to how these incidents are shaped by underlying settler colonial dynamics. Using an Indigenous methodological approach, with Settler Colonialism and TribalCrit as guiding frameworks, data were collected through in-depth interviews with 11 Indigenous doctoral students from both public and private universities. The term “settler aggression” emerged in this study as a way to describe microaggressions rooted in settler colonialism and directed at Indigenous individuals or communities. The findings uncovered four themes of settler aggressions: Settler Ignorance, which is categorized as a structural lack of awareness that benefits the setter; Settler Tokenization (and Indigenous Labor), which illustrates how settlers utilize Indigenous people, knowledge, culture, or spirituality to appear diverse without bringing about real change; Environmental Settler Aggressions in the Academy, which are the systemic settler aggressions embedding within academic structures; and Settler as Supreme Sovereign, which reflects how settlers assert their dominance through the centering of their own authority, knowledge, and culture while marginalizing Indigenous people. This research highlights the need for higher education institutions to move beyond symbolic gestures and implement actionable policies that support, protect, and empower Indigenous students.

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Remote care is not stealing: Joseph Freeman, Thomas Stubbs, Verity Chadwick, Anita Pickard, Tuguy Esgin, Elizabeth J. Elliott, Alexandra Martiniuk, ‘Models of care for Indigenous children in rural and remote settings: A global scoping review’, PLOS, 2025

22Jul25

Abstract: Indigenous communities internationally have demonstrated remarkable strength despite significant challenges. Health disparities among Indigenous peoples persist due to historical injustices and ongoing racial discrimination, not inherent vulnerabilities. Disparities are rooted in a legacy of colonisation, systemic exclusion, and socio-economic inequities impacting access to healthcare, education, and employment. Preliminary searches show limited literature on models of care for remote living Indigenous children. This review aimed to identify internationally, effective models of care for Indigenous children in rural and remote areas. A scoping review was conducted, analysing literature on models of care for remote Indigenous children. This study followed the JBI’s Scoping Review Guidance and PRISMA Scoping Review guideline. Inclusion criteria were aged ≤18, rural or remote areas, majority Indigenous, reported health outcomes, described a model of care, in English, and published since 1990. Data were systematically extracted, quality appraised using the ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Quality Appraisal Tool’ then analysed using descriptive-analytical methodology. This review included 16 papers: 8 case series, 3 qualitative studies, and 5 trials. Of these, 7 studies were in Australia, 7 in the USA and 2 in Canada. All studies primary aim was to improve quality of care. Models of care described in the included papers varied, being delivered in traditional healthcare settings, homes, and elsewhere in the community. This review provides insights into the design and implementation of models of care in remote communities with primarily Indigenous populations. The authors recommend 1) that future reviews privilege ‘realist evaluation’ when examining models of care, 2) designers consider whether a model of care will run for a fixed-period versus ongoing as they have different requirements for success and 3) a toolkit approach to model of care development like the Qungasvik toolkit which provides evidenced modules adaptable to local conditions, easing workload on local people developing programs.

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Parallel oppressions, parallel resistances: Malika Belkharchouche, ‘The Land, Indigenous Identity, and Resistance in Native American and Palestinian Literatures: N. Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn and Susan Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin as Illustration’, Revue des Sciences Humaines, 36, 2, 2025, pp. 275-295

22Jul25

Abstract: The aim of this study is to explore the complex interaction between land and indigenous identity in the literatures of Native Americans and Palestinians and to provide insights into the experiences of the two peoples in their struggle against colonial oppression. Within a post/decolonial framework and adopting an interdisciplinary approach that combines the paradigms of culture, memory, nationhood and sovereignty, this study explores how place and relations to the land have been enacted in Scott Momaday’s House Made of Dawn and Susan Abulhawa’s Mornings in Jenin, and how this connection to the land represents a means of identity affirmation and a symbol of resistance that enables a way of existence in this world. Undertaking this comparative study, which reveals the implicit and explicit connections between two disparate literatures, contributes to understanding interconnected experiences of settler colonialism and the ways indigenous writers contribute with counter-narratives in the nationalist movements of resistance and decolonization.

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In the heart of settler colonialism: Margret McCue-Enser, Indigenous Activism in the Midwest: Refusal, Resurgence, and Resisting Settler Colonialism, Michigan State University Press, 2025

22Jul25

Description: In Indigenous Activism in the Midwest: Refusal, Resurgence, and Resisting Settler Colonialism, Margret McCue-Enser examines how Minnesota Indigenous activists use public memory sites to interrupt and challenge the dominant narrative of place. She explores how Indigenous activism reveals and disrupts material, discursive, and performative rhetorics of settler colonialism. This work cultivates the ground between rhetorical studies of place and space and Indigenous studies in which place is central to Indigeneity and activism. Using largely in situ analysis and drawing on Indigenous and rhetorical scholarship as well as Indigenous and mainstream press, the analysis focuses on sites such as an outdoor art installation, a historic settlers’ village, centennial and sesquicentennial farms, and a celebrated military fort.

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The writing on the bark: Clare Wright, Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy, Text Publishing, 2024

21Jul25

Description: In 1963—a year of agitation for civil rights worldwide—the Yolŋu of northeast Arnhem Land created the Yirrkala Bark Petitions: Naku Dharuk. ‘The land grew a tongue’ and the land-rights movement was born. Naku Dharuk is the story of a founding document in Australian democracy and the trailblazers who made it. It is also a pulsating picture of the ancient and enduring culture of Australia’s first peoples. And it is a masterful, groundbreaking history.

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Thoughts, prayers AND apologies: Katherine Morton Richards, ‘Thoughts and Prayers: Comparing Public Apologies for Residential Schools in Canada’, American Indian Culture and Research Journal , 48, 2, 2025, pp. 93-113

21Jul25

Excerpt: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established by the Canadian federal government in 2007, was tasked with investigating Indigenous peoples’ experiences with the Indian residential school system. Residential schools, run by the state and churches, removed Indigenous children from their homes and communities with the aim of assimilating Indigenous peoples into Canadian society. The TRC and its resulting final report reflect a significant milestone in the work done by survivors, families, and Indigenous nations to bring attention to the realities of the residential school program, extending to broader processes of reconciliation and restorative justice.1 Through the sheer volume of information collected and reported alone, the TRC made a substantial contribution to our knowledge about residential schools, particularly among settler Canadians, who too often deny or are ignorant of the intensity of genocidal colonial violence. Public inquires, such as the TRC, as well as state apologies—the subject of this article—engage in a similar politics of redress, something that is significant within contemporary responses to settler colonialism. Understanding the TRC as a significant event in settler colonial Canada, in this article I compare two public apologies for residential schools, one made before and one made after this restorative justice process.

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Not incommensurable incommensurability: Michalinos Zembylas, ‘Tensions between decolonisation and social justice in education: seeking pathways beyond incommensurability’, Oxford Review of Education, 2025

21Jul25

Abstract: This conceptual paper examines the tensions that emerge in debates about decolonisation in education, particularly those that position decolonisation as incommensurable with social justice projects. Scholars have identified pitfalls in the incommensurability thesis, including the risk of reifying colonial binaries – such as the settler-Indigenous dichotomy – and fragmenting alliances between decolonisation, anti-racism, and other justice-oriented movements. The paper argues that these pitfalls can obscure the efforts to challenge the interconnected colonial logics of dispossession, exploitation, and racialisation that shape educational structures and experiences. Drawing on examples where Indigenous, Black, and racialised migrant settler subjectivities are brought into dialogue, the paper proposes a synergistic approach that bridges these projects and theoretical frameworks. By advocating for relationalities between decolonial and social justice politics in education, the paper highlights the potential of solidarity across differences, emphasising the need for intersectional and coalitional approaches that resist fragmentation.

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