settler colonial studies blog

Targeting children: Brittany Babij, Existence as Resistance: Examining Israeli Efforts to Eliminate the Native Palestinian Child Through a Discussion on Settler Colonialism, Securitization, and Genocide, MA dissertation, Carleton University, 2025

05Aug25

Abstract: By exploring the three themes of settler colonialism, securitization, and genocide, I analyze the ongoing Israeli genocidal assault on Gaza through a multidisciplinary theoretical lens whereby I essentially argue that the genocide Israel is perpetuating was always intentional in that it stems from the logic of elimination which is inherent within the settler colonial nature of its state formation (and even earlier, with the emergence of Zionism in the late 19th century). I further argue that Israel seeks, in particular, to target the native Palestinian child through a sublogic of limiting future possibilities, or in other words, the elimination of futurity. According to this logic, existence is resistance for the Indigenous in Indigenous lands, whereby survival serves as the ultimate testament to resilience in the face of settler colonial violence and erasure.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

The architecture of settler colonialism: Stephen Travers, Home on Native Land: Decolonizing Architectural Education Through Indigenous Collaboration, MA dissertation, Carleton University, 2025

05Aug25

Abstract: My thesis examines identity and architecture through my lens as an aspiring Canadian architect who uncovers my ancestral history of colonization as original settlers in Gespe’gewa’gi in 1785. After discovering my family’s role in colonizing the coast of Mawipoqtapei, I question my own future practice as an architect in the continued colonization of Native Land. I also critique architecture’s failure to honour Indigenous sovereignty through meaningful collaboration in the design process. Through Critical Regionalism, Indigenous knowledge systems, and case studies of architects engaging with colonial histories, I search for a path toward decolonization in architecture. By challenging research practices and settler-controlled design processes, this thesis argues that reconciliation in architecture requires fundamental restructuring to ensure that Indigenous voices lead the transformation of the built environment.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Settler or nonsettler? Randa Abdel-Fattah, ‘Muslim Solidarity with Palestine whilst Living on Stolen Land: The politics of Ramadan in Australia’, ReOrient, 9, 2, 2025

04Aug25

Abstract: This paper contextualises Muslim celebrations within a neoliberal understanding of politics and the consequent erasure of Indigenous identity. It traces the overlap of spectacles of Israeli brutality against Palestinians during Ramadan with official Ramadan and Eid celebrations in Australia when the Islamic concept of “ummah” is invoked to mobilise Muslim solidarity with Palestine. Using Foucauldian discourse analysis, and drawing on Critical Indigenous studies, Settler Colonial Studies, and Critical Muslim Studies, I analyse the discursive repertoires mobilised by Muslim “representatives” in their Ramadan/Eid engagements with the Australian settler-colonial state. I outline how respectability politics and liberal multicultural agendas pursued by Muslim community leadership legitimate and reproduce settler-colonial relations of power and demonstrate how this undermines a praxis of ummah as potential clarion call to decolonial, anti-imperial struggle both here on stolen land and in solidarity with Palestinians.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

The meaning of settler colonialism: Annalee Ring, ‘A critical semiology of settler colonial meaning-making: de-naturalizing and re-politicizing contradictory and intertwined mythologies’, Settler Colonial Studies, 2025

04Aug25

Abstract: This paper highlights contributions of Indigenous and decolonial scholars to semiology, focusing on how settler colonialism generates systems of meaning that support its establishment, maintenance, and reproduction as well as how intertwined myths contribute to sustain settler colonialism on Turtle Island. These scholars argue that settler colonialism’s longevity requires the naturalization and internalization of intertwined mythologies. These settler colonial mythologies justify violence against Indigenous people and the expropriation and exploitation of Indigenous land, resulting in ongoing social and environmental injustices. Further, settler colonial myths operate collectively even though they seem contradictory or circular. The Myth of the Ecological Savage and the Myth of the Ecological Saint reduce millions of diverse peoples into two stereotypes that promote settler colonial interests. Both myths support the Myth of Wilderness, an inaccurate description of land as untouched before European arrival. This myth was employed to justify genocidal and assimilationist practices beneficial to settler colonial interests. This myth also erases the relationships that Indigenous peoples had with land, justifying land theft. These myths also support the Myth of Wasteland, which claims that Indigenous peoples are wasting the land’s potential, further justifying land theft and exploitation. The Myth of Biological Race and the Myth of the Vanishing Indigene both assume what they supposedly find, and they both obscure the material and health-based consequences of settler colonialism, following a pattern of blaming the oppressed for their oppression. This myth diverts attention and removes responsibility from settler colonial production of racial health disparities, attributing these disparities to Indigenous genetics. These intertwined mythologies obscure Indigenous multiplicity and difference and establish and maintain settler colonialism by naturalizing and these myths and internalizing them into habits of perception. Studying these myths collectively illuminates what I call a settler colonial grammar, or the structural and systemic relationships between multiple myths and how they operate in conjunction. Thus, this paper argues that settler colonial systems of meaning should be de-naturalized and re-politicized as their continuation and materialization is lethal. Furthermore, the paper suggests that practices of radical resistance and refusal, as defined by Indigenous scholars, which can offer strategies for disrupting settler meanings and their correlated material institutions.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

The settler solitude: Nicholas Spengler, ‘Melville and American Solitude: A Settler-Colonial Poetics’, in Jennifer Greiman, Michael Jonik (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Herman Melville, Oxford 2025

04Aug25

Access the Handbook and chapter here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

No voice: Raymond Foxworth, Carew Boulding, Sarah Maddison (eds), Racism and Resentment in Indigenous-Settler Relations: Lessons from the Voice, Springer, 2025

04Aug25

Description: This book looks at deep-seated elements of racism in Indigenous-settler relations through detailed analyses of the October 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum in Australia and its outcome—and discusses what might come next. The Voice to Parliament referendum proposed a constitutional amendment to create an Indigenous advisory body in the Australian Parliament. The referendum met with a resounding defeat. Against this background, the book analyses survey results during the referendum that asked direct questions about attitudes towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as about policies and issues important to many Indigenous peoples. It situates Australia’s experience in this election with other research on attitudes towards Indigenous peoples, rights, and policy issues. The book also interrogates another major survey in the lead-up to the referendum, questioning those findings in relation to racism. It looks at possible learnings for the social sciences about Indigenous politics and examines the ways in which Australian settler nationalism created obstacles to the referendum’s success and considers the limits of deliberation for Indigenous political claims.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Settler dogs: Humanimalia, Ishaan Selby, ‘Robot Dogs and the Paw Patrol: Police Dogs and Racial Biocapitalism in the Americas and Palestine’, 15, 2 2025

02Aug25

Abstract: is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellow at Concordia University in the Department of English. He holds a PhD in English and Cultural Studies from McMaster University. His research explores the intersections of capitalism, social difference, and animal life and has been published in English Studies in Canada, Ecocene, and an edited collection entitled Lost Kingdom: Animal Death in the Anthropocene (Vernon Press, 2024). His first book project tentatively titled “Tooth and Claw: Animal Oppression, Racial Capitalism, and the Abolition of Policing” argues that policing is fundamental to the human–animal distinction in social formations where the dominant relationship to animal life is one of ownership and that humanization and animalization are central to the life-sorting operations of racial capitalism. He divides his time between Montréal and his home city of Toronto.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Settler meat eating vs relational nourishment: Audrey Tirrill, Beyond Modern Meat Practices: Indigenous Knowledge, Animal Rights, and the Human-Nature Disconnect in the Context of Settler Colonialism, Graduate dissertation, University of Oregon, 2025

02Aug25

Abstract: The ethics of consuming meat, especially when viewed through the lens of Indigenous knowledge systems, presents a unique framework for understanding human-animal relationships and ecological sustainability. Through their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), Indigenous cultures emphasize a holistic and reciprocal approach to animal husbandry and hunting, viewing these practices as sacred and essential to maintaining balance with the natural world. These practices, rooted in respect and a deep understanding of the environment, contrast sharply with the industrialized meat production systems that dominate contemporary agriculture, particularly in the production of beef, pork, and chicken. Industrial meat production, driven by profit and efficiency, has led to environmental degradation, animal suffering, and a growing disconnect between people and the animals they consume. This thesis explores these ethical concerns, advocating for a reconsideration of meat production through an Indigenous perspective that stresses sustainability, respect, and interconnectedness. Through case studies of the Cherokee Nation, Makah Indian Tribe, and Inuit Nunangat, and an exploration of their relationships with buffalo and orca whales, this study seeks to address the gaps in current literature, particularly the underrepresentation of Indigenous voices in discussions of animal rights and the meat industry. By examining Indigenous narratives, oral traditions, and animal stories, the thesis underscores the importance of these cultural practices in fostering respect for nature and ethical stewardship. Ultimately, this work challenges the current trajectory of industrial meat production and highlights the potential for Indigenous knowledge and practices to shape a more ethical, sustainable, and culturally respectful future for food systems and human-animal relations.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

Acknowledging the actual land: Tyson Stewart, ‘Deconstructing land acknowledgements: from oral to cinematic expression’, AlterNative, 2025

01Aug25

Abstract: What kinds of stories do we tell within the genre of land acknowledgements? What kinds of stories are we telling about ourselves in relation to the land? And how do land acknowledgments on film tell a different story than oral ones? After a brief discussion on the purpose and intention of the contemporary land acknowledgement, I will describe how Indigenous filmmakers go about acknowledging the territories where their stories are set in Falls Around Her (2018), Blood Quantum (2019) and Kayak to Klemtu (2017). Indigenous cinema often challenges the habit of locating treaty agreements in utterly past contexts as the act of acknowledging the land where the film is set is front and centre.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

The university of settler colonialism: Hans A. Baer, ‘Universities and settler colonialism in two countries: Australia and Israel’, The Australian Journal of Anthropologu, 2025

01Aug25

Excerpt: This review essay focuses on.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Closed

what’s new

contribute