settler colonial studies blog

Parking settlers: Laura McKinley, ‘Commemorating Contested National Park Landscapes: The Canada 150 Discovery Pass and White Scopic Disremembering’, in Lourdes López-Ropero, Marzena Sokołowska-Paryż (eds), Literary and Cultural Responses to Mnemonic Landscapes, Springer, 2025, pp. 55-72

26Jul25

Abstract: This chapter explores the intricate relationship between memory, space, and white settler colonialism within Canada’s National Parks, using the Canada 150 Discovery Pass—a state-led commemorative program for Canada’s sesquicentennial—as a case study. It argues that these national parks, celebrated as iconic Canadian landscapes, are pivotal to a white settler national identity that necessitates the disremembering of colonial violence and dispossession for their very existence. The Canada 150 Discovery Parks Pass encouraged Canadians to reflect on, project, and imagine what it means to be Canadian through the viewing and spatial transit of these places purported to represent the best of Canada and its citizen-subjects. However, these parks are also sites of forced removals of Indigenous nations, marked by the dispossessive violence of white settler colonialism, which relies on the attempted erasure and forgetting of Indigenous presence. This chapter contends that these parks, while celebrated as iconic Canadian landscapes, are crucial sites for the production and maintenance of a white settler national identity. Drawing on the work of Critical Race scholars and Indigenous artist Rebecca Belmore’s aesthetic intervention, Wave Sound, the chapter demonstrates how the pass consolidates a white possessive subjectivity that justifies ongoing colonial land appropriation and elides colonial history. In contrast, Belmore’s sculptural objects, installed in four National Parks, invited visitors to listen to the land rather than merely view and transit through it, thereby offering an opportunity to challenge official memory and foster alternative forms of remembering.

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Cruel nation: Julie Macken, Australia’s Schism in the Soul: Colonialism, Immigration Detention and a Nation’s Failure to Mourn, Springer, 2025

26Jul25

Description: How has it become possible for the Australian state to gain public acquiescence to develop one of world’s most punitive systems of processing asylum-seekers; one that not only contravenes Australia’s international humanitarian commitments, but that, in the words of activists, medical professionals, and the detainees themselves amounts to torture? In this highly readable account academic, journalist and advocate Dr Julie Macken takes a psychoanalytic approach to both the country and its public to uncover why. Dr Macken’s investigation begins by outlining how the nation’s failure to mourn its colonial past has led to a state of collective melancholia, with the result that denial and psychological splitting have prevented genuine reconciliation with First Nations peoples. The central part of the book offers a compelling account of the development of Australia’s current system of privatised immigration detention and the political, economic and media forces that have sustained it that will resonate globally. In conclusion the book posits that political action in these circumstances—however distressing and visceral—should be adopted as a mental health strategy for both the person and the nation.

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Gendered resistance against settler colonialism: Coralie Annick Monique Buquet, Unveiling Colonial Narratives and Amplifying Indigenous Voices: The Role of Kanak Women in Resisting Settler Colonialism in Kanaky/New Caledonia, MA dissertation, The Arctic University of Norway, 2025

26Jul25

Abstract: This thesis explores gender dynamics in Kanaky/New Caledonia, highlighting colonialism’s enduring impact on Kanak women’s lived experiences. In response to the gaps in research on how Indigenous women actively negotiate the tensions between custom, modernity and colonialism, this study examines their narratives and practices in cultural education and media activism. Mobilizing a theoretical approach rooted in decolonial epistemologies, intersectionality and Indigenous feminism, this research draws on a qualitative methodology combining in-depth interviews with Kanak women, archival analysis, and a critical examination of colonial political texts. The work demonstrates that the commitment of Kanak women contributes to the construction of a situated decolonial feminism, rooted in Indigenous knowledge and living cultural practices. The trajectories of these women reveal a resilient resistance to internal patriarchal structures and colonial systems, as well as a capacity to reconfigure traditions in favor of self-determination. By articulating memory, cultural identity and political action, they contribute to a feminine sovereignty in the making. This work enriches contemporary debates on decolonization by highlighting the central role of Indigenous women in the struggles for social justice and political emancipation in Kanaky/New Caledonia.

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Settler colonialism is a family tradition: Madeline Rose Knickerbocker, Hilary A. Rose, ‘Unsettling our family history: critical interventions in settler Canadian pasts’ Settler Colonial Studies, 2025

26Jul25

Abstract: This article explores seven generations of our family’s participation in settler colonialism at different times and in different places across Canada. The ancestors we focus on came to North America beginning in 1820, and serial waves of immigration from divergent branches of our family tree followed thereafter. For each generation, we investigate our ancestors’ arrival on Indigenous lands, the histories of Indigenous presence on and use of those lands, the processes by which our relatives got access to that land, the impacts our ancestors’ presence had on Indigenous Nations of those lands and the benefits our family experienced from Indigenous dispossession and settler colonialism. Informed by decolonial critiques and interdisciplinary scholarship on histories of family and colonialism, we piece together these narratives by drawing on archival and genealogical records, settler accounts, family stories and fieldwork. Using our family as a case study, we argue that adopting a critical approach to settler family histories helps challenge the myth of Canadian benevolence, solidifies our understanding of the foundational violence of settler colonialism, and exemplifies the truth–telling that needs to come with settler reconciliation to Indigenous Peoples – a vital first step towards being able to recognize, live within and uphold Indigenous sovereignty.

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Astrotopia: Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race, Chicago University Press, 2022

25Jul25

Description: A revealing look at the parallel mythologies behind the colonization of Earth and space—and a bold vision for a more equitable, responsible future both on and beyond our planet. As environmental, political, and public health crises multiply on Earth, we are also at the dawn of a new space race in which governments team up with celebrity billionaires to exploit the cosmos for human gain. The best-known of these pioneers are selling different visions of the future: while Elon Musk and SpaceX seek to establish a human presence on Mars, Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin work toward moving millions of earthlings into rotating near-Earth habitats. Despite these distinctions, these two billionaires share a core utopian project: the salvation of humanity through the exploitation of space. In Astrotopia, philosopher of science and religion Mary-Jane Rubenstein pulls back the curtain on the not-so-new myths these space barons are peddling, like growth without limit, energy without guilt, and salvation in a brand-new world. As Rubenstein reveals, we have already seen the destructive effects of this frontier zealotry in the centuries-long history of European colonialism. Much like the imperial project on Earth, this renewed effort to conquer space is presented as a religious calling: in the face of a coming apocalypse, some very wealthy messiahs are offering an other-worldly escape to a chosen few. But Rubenstein does more than expose the values of capitalist technoscience as the product of bad mythologies. She offers a vision of exploring space without reproducing the atrocities of earthly colonialism, encouraging us to find and even make stories that put cosmic caretaking over profiteering.

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Recognitopia: Caleb J. Basnett, ‘Recognition, Decolonization, and the Limitations of James Tully’s Public Philosophy’, The Review of Politics, 2025

25Jul25

Abstract: This article offers a four-part argument in favor of settlers adopting an ethics of recognition in negotiations with Indigenous peoples to support decolonization in North America. Part 1 examines theories of decolonization offered by Indigenous scholars, who show that ethical practices within Indigenous communities are necessary for decolonization. Part 2 focuses on James Tully’s revision of the liberal politics of recognition (LPR), arguing that Tully brings the LPR closer to the aims of decolonization. Part 3 argues that his innovations do not sufficiently acknowledge how inequality undermines the freedom he champions. Part 4 draws on Judith Butler’s interpretation of Hegelian recognition and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s idea of recognition to sketch an ethics that minimizes the inequalities of participants in the political negotiations Tully theorizes. Minimizing inequality will promote the greater freedom needed for the legitimacy of negotiations, making them a possible vehicle for decolonization.

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Ethnocidal fantasies, Indigenous resistance: Viviane de Melo Resende, Yara Martinelli, Bruno Marangoni Martinelli, ‘Against ethnoecocide: from far-right political violence to the collective resistance of Indigenous peoples in Brazil’, Language Discourse & Society, 13, 1, 2025

25Jul25

Abstract: The starting point of this paper is mapping extreme right-wing discourses about Indigenous
peoples and their territories and examining how they are reclaimed and subverted through Indigenous resistance movements in Brazil. We highlight how the discursive production resulting from the largest Brazilian Indigenous conference – the Free Land Camp (Acampamento Terra Livre – ATL), in the editions from 2019 to 2022, responded to the attacks in speeches by the federal executive administration. For this, we revisit a few relevant concepts of the decolonial turn, outline contexts of attack and resistance to the rights of Indigenous peoples in the period, summarise results of our previous analysis on discourses by the executive branch, and present analyses of ATL letters. Our analyses point to increased Indigenous mobilisation in response to political attacks by the far-right government in power between 2019 and 2022. Indigenous peoples organised in their movements assumed a leading role in social resistance against fascism in Brazil.

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The weight of settler colonialism: Bronwyn Carlson, ‘Indigenous fat rebellion: Rejecting settler fatphobia and reclaiming body sovereignty’, Fat Studies, 2025

25Jul25

Abstract: This article confronts the urgent need for Indigenous Fat Studies by asking: What does it mean to embody fatness as an Indigenous person under the weight of settler-colonial oppression? Fatness, for Indigenous Peoples, is a radical site of resistance against a colonial legacy that enforces Eurocentric ideals of health, beauty, and body size. Indigenous body sovereignty stands as a powerful act of defiance, rejecting settler narratives that demonize and pathologise fat bodies. This article explores how Indigenous fat liberation reclaims fatness as a vital expression of cultural strength, selfdetermination, and community resilience. By reclaiming body narratives embedded in Indigenous knowledge systems and lifeworlds, Indigenous communities challenge harmful colonial frameworks and reject colonial ownership over Indigenous bodies and lives. This article calls for a dismantling of settler-colonial health, body and beauty regimes and champions a future where Indigenous body autonomy reigns, asserting that Indigenous fat studies is essential for radical body liberation and sovereignty.

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A view over settler colonialism: Malcolm Traill, ‘A grand colonial vista – with a few twists: Dale’s Panorama and its accompanying pamphlet’, Australian Garden History, 37, 1, 2025, pp. 14-19

24Jul25

Excerpt: Early colonial artwork in Australia can tell us a lot about landscape, botany and colonial attitudes. This is very much the case with this painting of King George’s Sound (now Albany) in Western Australia, informally known as the Dale Panorama. So, what is the background to this huge work, almost 3 m in length, and why was it painted? Who was Robert Dale and what became of him?

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Toxic, toxic settler colonialism: Federico Andrade-Rivas, Reza Afshari, Annalee Yassi, ‘“Low-Dose, Long-Term” Toxic Exposures Among “Indigenous Peoples in Canada”: Impacts of Inequality, Environmental Health Challenges, and the Need for a Comprehensive Approach’, Asia Pacific Journal of Medical Toxicology, 2025

24Jul25

Abstract: Indigenous Peoples in Canada face significant environmental health challenges, including long-term, low-dose toxic exposures that contribute to pronounced health disparities compared to the general population. The unequal distribution of industrial contamination and historical practices such as mercury dumping primarily drive these disproportionate toxic exposures. The authors have conducted extensive research in this area including a community-based case study using a mixed-methods approach integrating community narratives and biomonitoring data. They aim to summarize their findings and potential countermeasure strategies that toxicologists working in public health can apply to define and improve health outcomes among minority groups in middle- and low-income countries.Many efforts have been made in recent decades to reduce exposure rates and restore traditional health practices; however, these communities still face heightened risks from contaminated food sources, ongoing socio-economic inequalities, and the degradation of their ecosystems. Additionally, structural racism within healthcare systems and limited access to culturally appropriate care exacerbate these challenges. This commentary highlights the urgent need for a comprehensive, culturally sensitive environmental health approach incorporating Indigenous knowledge systems and community-driven solutions. We emphasize the importance of participatory, Indigenous-led research to address cumulative health impacts, promote resilience, and reduce health inequities. In conclusion, health authorities can develop sustainable strategies to reduce toxic exposures at the population level and support the health and well-being of Indigenous communities. This can be achieved through collaborative approaches that honour Indigenous sovereignty and embrace the principles of relevance, respect, and reciprocity. These findings have important implications for reducing toxic exposures among minority groups in middle- and low-income countries. Addressing long-term low-dose toxic exposures among Indigenous Peoples in Canada requires culturally respectful and community-led environmental health approaches. Researchers and policymakers must engage in sustained, collaborative efforts recognizing Indigenous sovereignty and tailoring strategies beyond those used for the general population.

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